Team Fortress: Endless War
by Chinese Infantry
Summary: Two teams, two flags, one war. Follow the story of a red female scout and a blue chain smoking spy as they learn what is so important about a freaking flag. Rated T for strong language and violence in later chapters. A NaNoWriMo 2007 Story.
1. Prelude to War

Chapter 1: The Prelude to War

**Location: Rouge, Republic of Rojo**

"BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!"

The alarm went off in the face of Kristel Wright. She fumbled around with her right hand, looking for the snooze button. She jerked her eyes open for a brief second to take a look at the time. _6:00. Time to get your ass up... _she thought as her eyes fell back shut. Grudgingly, she lifted herself out of bed and went to her clothing bureau. Her eyes were still shut, yet she was able to feel around for the drawer containing her track clothing. She stripped off her clothing and replaced her t-shirt and panties with track shorts, sweatpants, shirt and sweatshirt.

Grabbing her mp3 player, she began her morning run. Today was the day of the so-called "Meet of Champions" where she would be competing against students from schools all over the Republic of Rojo. For the whole school year, she had sprinted for the Rouge High track team and this time, she was dead set on coming out on top.

As the cool, morning air blew through her hair as she ran down her street, she thought of what the meet would be like today. _Hmm, ten to one there will be recruiters for the Red Team _there... she thought. The army of the Republic of Rojo, also known as the Red Team, was always looking for new recruits to fight in the war against the army of the nation of Azure (known as the Blue Team), and one of their primary sources were school sports teams. Though Kristel did not know much about the red team, she knew that they looked for fast runners to serve as scouts. Also, they looked for Soldiers and Heavy Weapons Guys among the shot put throwers and discus throwers. Many of those recruited felt it was an honor to fight for the Red Team and joined up without question.

Not Kristel though, She was nervous that if she did too well, the Red Team might swarm her with offers to join up. _But wait, why am I even worrying about this? The Red Team's never recruited women in the past, why would_ _I be an exception?_ It was true. The Red Team only paid attention to the male athletes on each sports team and never gave a second glance at the women.

By the time she had arrived home, her mother was watching the morning news, which almost always consisted of a report on the war between the Red and Blue Teams. This time, they were interviewing a soldier on the losses they've experienced over the past few days. "...Their medics were using some strange device that made the enemy soldiers invincible. I shot four rockets at one of them and they all bounced off. It must have been that Übercharge thing I've been hearing about from my buddies." This was not the first time she had heard of the Übercharge: all week, that's all the war reports ever consisted of. _Ü__bercharge this and __bulletproof__ that. _She thought to herself as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. She then sat and ate in quiet disgust about having to listen to another soldier blubber on camera about how his squad was wasted by some bulletproof Heavy Weapons Guy.

The Meet of Champions was held at Rouge High's very own track, which consisted of a large, red oval with 8 lanes. A massive structure of bleachers lay on one of the straightaways on the track, allowing for a close view of the last 100 meters of a running event. To the right were the long jump pits where the long and triple jump took place as well as a giant field for the javelin throwers. In the center of the oval were all of the field events, such as the shot put and discus.

She could already overhear the male sprinters bragging about being recruited onto the Red Team. "Ohh yeah, well by the time I'm done today, I'll have Red Team recruiters lining up to get me. Just you wait! In a few months, I'll be popping Blue Team fuckers like nothing else." "Hah! You, Red Team. I'm sorry, man, but it's going to be me that the Red Team ultimately wants. "Well, we'll see after today's meet, huh!" She smiled to herself. _Heh. Boys. Always competitive about everything. _One of the boys then turned his attention to her. "Hey, Kristel, isn't your dad on the Red Team." he said to her. "Yes, and I'd appreciate if you didn't talk about him, thank you very much!" she said back in an agitated tone of voice. "Ok, ok, I was just asking." he replied. _Idiot, you don't understand. _She thought to herself.

Her event was about to start. She continued stretching in order to stay ready to run. _Ok, Kristel Wright, this is the big one. You only get one shot at this, you better get it done right the first time. _She said to herself. Previously, she had ran around the track twice as well as do a stretching routine with her team, now she was simply trying to prevent her muscles from locking up. _Spare no expense. I will win this thing. I am Kristel Wright: Ace Sprinter_. Suddenly, she looked over and saw a peculiar man in a blue suit across the field, carrying a suit case. He has simply looked at her with a cold gaze, straightened his tie with his free hand and walked away. _Wait, who was that. Was that guy a member of the Blue..._ her thought process was interrupted when her event was called.

It was the only heat for the Girls 100m sprint. In previous track meets, she was always in the last heat, with the faster runners who actually had a chance to score points for their team. Now, it was only the best vs the best, and whoever came in first won for that event. She set her blocks and waited for the signal. "ON YOUR MARK" the man yelled, as all the runners took their positions on the blocks, palms outstretched against the track and faces down. The man raised the gun "GET SET!" he yelled, where the runners each raised their heads to face down at the finish line.

BANG!

The moment the pistol shot off, Kristel pushed off against her block with her feet and rose herself into a sprinting position. Once she was up and running, the only thing that ran through her mind was to keep running. Not even a stray though came to her mind to keep her concentration elsewhere. She concentrated on nothing but making it to the finish line and had even drowned out the sound of her and the other runners breathing as well as the cheering in the audience. As she ran, she had felt the pain in her chest attempting to slow her down. Still, she fought on, hearing nothing, thinking of nothing and seeing nothing but the finish line and crossing.

Finally, she had crossed the finish line. Once she crossed, she immediately relaxed herself. Bending over and keeping her hands on her knees, she took a couple of deep breaths before waiting to hear the times called off. "AND IN FIRST PLACE IS KRISTEL WRIGHT, WITH A RECORD BREAKING TIME OF 9:09 SECONDS!" she heard the loudspeakers yell out. Immediately, her spirits rose. _Holy shit! Not only did I get first place, I broke the record_. She thought to herself, leaving the track with a smile.

"OH MY GOD, KRISSIE, YOU DID IT!" she heard a voice familiar to her yell. She turned to her best friend Kerry Forrest, who had immediately enveloped her in a tight hug, which she returned. "Hey Kerry, I didn't know you here." "Of course I was! You didn't think I'd miss my best friends win the record for the 100m" Kerry said to her friend. "Didn't you hear me cheering you on?" "Uhh...yeah I did, thanks a lot!" Kristel lied back.

"Excuse me, but is only of you ladies Kristel Wright?" a male voice interrupted the conversation. "Uhh, I'm Kristel Wright" she said, pointing to herself. "Alright then, I'd like to have a quick word with you." the man replied. She didn't recognize him _Am I in trouble or something. Do they think I didn't win legitimately? _She thought with a nervous look on her face as her heart sank. "Hi, my name is Douglas Clearwater, I'm with the Red Team" the man introduced himself. Kristel relaxed, _Ohh good, than I'm not in trouble. Wait, THE RED TEAM!? _She though, suddenly surprised. "I heard that you broke the record for the Girls 100m sprint. I must say that's quite a feat. Not every person I've met has even came close to doing something like that." Doug said to her. _Wait. He's not actually trying to recruit me. Is he?_ She was still puzzled. "I believe that a girl like you would make an valuable member of the Red Team" he said. _Yep, he's recruiting me. _"Uhhh" was the only thing that could come out of her _mouth. Me? Fight for the Red Team? I can't do it, I'm just a high school sprinter. I'm not ready to die for my country. But on the other hand..."_Of course she doesn't want to join, why are you pestering her about it." Kerry chimed in. "Uhh, I'll think about it." Kristel finally said to the recruiter. "Ok, just give me your contact information and I'll call you back."

"...Kristel, sweetie, you aren't seriously thinking about joining the Red Team, are you?" Kerry said to her. "Listen, there's just something on my mind, and I might need to join the Red Team." "Listen, it's dangerous. Do you know how sad I'd be if I heard that you were killed. "Look, I didn't say yes, I only said I'd think about it." "Well, okay, but you know I worry about you."

The two friends shared a last hug before they parted ways. _Hmm,why was the Red Team so keen on recruiting me? Not even the top female sprinters in the past have even been considered for them. Was it because I broke a record, or was it because of name. Also, who was that strange blue suited man I saw earlier? Maybe it would be best if I did join the Red Team. It's not like I'm doing much after High School, right?_


	2. Welcome to Red Team

Chapter 2: Welcome to Red Team

**Five Months Later...**

The sun began rising over the trees, still not showing itself completely. The air was still cool, but from the lack of clouds in the sky, was destined to get hot. The grass was covering in dew as well as the backpacks of all of the new recruits for the Red Team, including Kristel's. Each of the recruits were a red t-shirt and olive shorts. Her mother had dropped her off at the bus stop awhile ago. She kissed her daughter goodbye and made her promise to write her often. "At least so I'll know my baby is still alive." she said to her. "Oh Mom, you worry too much of course I'll be alright. But I'll still write home to you." Kristel said back to her.

When Kristel's mother first learned that the Red Team took interest in her daughter, she strictly forbade her from joining up with them. At first, Kristel did not argue. She was too unsure of herself and her commitment to join the Red Team, but as the months progressed, she became more insistent. Finally, her mother just gave up and accepted the fact that her daughter was dead set on joining the Red Team, and would join whether she liked it or not.

She was too nervous to start a conversation with the other recruits, primarily on account that she was the only female recruit present. She did however, switch up between overhearing various conversations among them. "Hah, all that practicing I did with my .22 rifle is finally going to pay off when I join Red Team. I'm going to be a sniper for sure." "With my extensive knowledge of medicine, I would most certainly make the ideal medic." "A medic? HA HA HA HA HA, what are you afraid to shoot things. Why don't you focus on a class that actually does something, wimp!" "Hey, medic do do stuff. They keep the Team healthy and in fighting shape." "Yeah, and what are you going to do when the Blue Team soldiers rush in, throw bandaids at them?" "Yeah, well, you'll be kissing my feet once I heal you from the brink of certain death."

Once the busses rolled in, she looked for hers. The busses were all lined up in alphabetical order, so it didn't take too long for her to find her bus. Once she got on, those that were already on the bus immediately stared at her, hoping that they would be lucky enough to have "the girl" sit next to him. Others were surprised that there was a girl joining the Red Team. _Well, I've already drawn the attention of every recruit around here. I'm off to a grand old start, now aren't I. _She thought at she took one of the empty seats. Sadly, it did not remain empty as she was soon joined by the recruit who bragged about becoming a sniper.

"Alright, you guys, listen up." said a man at the front of the bus. "My name is Sergeant Hank West, and you guys are about to join the Red Team. Now I want y'all to git to know eachother well, because these are the people you'll be bunking with during your time in basic trainin'. Now I've been told that there is a lady among you guys." he said, causing the entire bus to turn their heads towards her. _Gee, thanks_ _for drawing more attention towards me, Sgt. West. "_Now I know what y'all are thinkin', and I'm here to tell you this: you are here to become an asset to the Red Team, not to pick up chicks. I also don't want to see any of you treatin' her any different because she's a girl. Anyone I catch is going too feel my boot in their ass. Do I make myself clear!?" "Yes sir!" everyone on the bus exclaimed, including Kristel. _It's nice to know you're on my side, Sergeant._ She thought to herself. "Now then, are there any questions?" he asked. "Yeah, are the barracks air conditioned?" a recruit asked. "Ha! That's a good one, sonny-boy. Yes, we do have air conditioning. We also have a hot tub, tanning salon, and a massage parlor, eh he he he he he he he! Now, any serious questions?" the bus was silent. "Good, now sit back and enjoy the ride." he said.

Kristel stared out the window as the scenery passed by. All she knew was that she would be undergoing some sort of training before she was to go into combat. She also was pretty sure that they were going to assign her to the role of a Scout, due to her speed. She was wondered what kind of weapons and gear she would be issuedas well as what her training would be like. Her thought process was interrupted when the "sniper" next to her spoke. "Hey" he said. "Oh! Uhh, hi." she said in a shy tone. "I'm Greg Wood, Who are you." he asked. "I'm Kristel Wright" "Nice to meet you. I may not

look, but I'm a mean shot with a sniper rifle." he bragged. "Oh? You've used one before." she asked, intrigued. "No, but I've used something like it. I figure if I can hit stuff good without a scope, I'll be shooting heads off with a scope." "Ohh, that sounds uhh, interesting" she replied. "If we ever fight together, I'll gladly cover your ass anytime" he said. "I heard that, jackass! You're doing 20 once you git off the bus." Sgt. West yelled back. Kristel was blushing "I was thinking about becoming a Scout." she said nervously to Wood. "Ahh, I bet you're one of those sprinters aren't you" he guessed. "Hey, how did you know." She asked. "I'm smart like that." he replied.

The bus rolled to a stop outside of a barbed wire fence checkpoint. By this time, it was mid afternoon. Kristel looked out of her window and saw a sign that read "Fort Gooseman Red Team training facility." "Geez, what's with all the security. Do they really think there are Blue Team spies on this bus" Greg yelled out. "Do you have a problem, Wood?" Sgt. West replied back. "Uhh...no." he said back "Good, now y'all be in Fort Gooseman in about 10 minutes. If I hear you again, it's 20 more pushups! Do I make myself clear?" "Yes sir!"

Three checkpoints later, the busses finally stopped outside of a giant building as well as several others. Each of them sported white bricks with a red roof as well as red doors. As the recruits stepped off the bus, they were herded towards a field in the center of the base along with the other recruits. Their bags were left in a pile in from of the bus to be taken care of. Kristel stayed close to Wood. Although he was cocky, he was the only person she really knew and felt comfortable talking with. "Say, do you know when these guys are going to feed us. I'm starving." he said to her. She would have scolded him for only thinking of food, but she admitted to herself that she was pretty hungry herself. The scorching hot sun and blazing weather didn't help either. She kind of wished now that the hot tub wasn't a joke after all.

"GOOD AFTERNOON, RED TEAM RECRUITS!" a man said over a microphone which carried out to speakers surrounding the center field. "WELCOME TO FORT GOOSEMAN, WHERE YOU WILL BE TRAINING TO BECOME VALUED ASSETS TO THE RED TEAM. DO NOT GET COMFORTABLE HERE. ONCE YOUR TRAINING IS COMPLETE, YOU WILL BEGIN YOUR SERVICE IMMEDIATELY. YOU WILL RISE EVERY MORNING AT 6:00 AM. BREAKFAST WILL BE SERVED FROM 6:45 TO 7:45 AM. TRAINING WILL BEGIN FOR EACH CLASS AT 8:00 AM AND WILL END AT 5:00 PM. IF FOR ANY REASON, YOU ARE DEEMED NOT FIT FOR SERVICE AFTER YOUR TWO WEEKS OF TRAINING, YOU WILL BE SENT HOME.." the man droned on about rules, regulations and other boring topics for about an hour, making the new recruits antsy. "...ONE LAST THING. IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU ARE UNABLE OR TOO WEAK TO SERVE ON THE RED TEAM, YOU CAN LEAVE AT ANY TIME. THE RED TEAM ONLY WANTS DEDICATED SOLDIERS IN IT'S RANKS. FOR THE REST OF YOU, GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR TRAINING." "Finally, I was wondering if that guy ever shut up." Wood whispered to Kristel.

The new recruits were then directed towards the dining hall. When Kristel stepped through the door, she saw rows of red painted wooden tables and benches all in perfect straight lines. The interior was painted white with the bottom half of the walls painted red. From the ceiling hung red flags as well as giant light fixtures. _Ok, I get it. This is the Red Team._ She thought to herself regarding the decoration. Once the recruits all stood in a front of a seat, a man came over a loudspeaker to lead them in saying grace. "Dear Lord, we thank you for this meal, and with it, we shall get the energy we need to kick the Blue Team's ass. Amen."

Dinner consisted of a roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. For drinks, there were either water or red kool-aid. Though the food was subpar at best, but after going all day without eating, none of the recruits cared. Wood almost immediately got into another conversation with surrounding recruits. "Hey, I've heard that one of the classes involving sitting around with a flamethrower and torching any Blue Team guy that comes along." he said. "Hah, that's a good one." said the recruit sitting across from Wood. "No, I'm serious. I think I've heard of the Blue Team doing it once. A group of soldiers rushed the base and a Blue Pyro came out and torched them all." "Yeah, and the Blue Team also has bulletproof soldiers." Kristel chimed in. "It's true. I've heard about it. I think it's called the Übercharge I think." "Hey, since when did they let women join the Red Team? Are they THAT desperate for new recruits?" he said. "Hey, shut the fuck up. She'll probably be better than you'll ever be." Wood replied. She couldn't help but blush slightly when he defended. "You want to start something. I'll bet you $10 that the Übercharge does not exist." "Yeah, what are you going to do with $10, maybe pay off the Blue Team so they'll let you live 10 seconds longer?" the man across from Wood couldn't think of a retort to that and stopped talking. Wood turned his attention to Kristel "So, what is this Übercharge thing you were talking about?" he said to her. "Well, apparently, it's a function that is built into a medic's healing device that charges as the medic uses it. Once it gets fully charged, the medic hits the charge and creates a barrier of invulnerability around both the medic and the recipient of the beam. The Blue Team has been using it to gain the upper hand in battles." she replied. "Wow, how do you know so much about the Übercharge" he asked surprised. "Well, I had to the listen to a whole week's worth of news report dealing with the Übercharge." she replied. "Do we have something like that?" "Heh, if we did, we wouldn't have lost so much ground due to it."

After dinner, the recruits were led to their barracks. Each one had a number that corresponded to the bus that they were on. Inside, there were two rooms: one of them had uniform row of bunk beds with two back to back red trunks with the recruit's bags on top. The other one was the bathroom and showering facilities. Sgt. West lined up the recruits and addressed them. "This is where you will be living for the next two weeks. During training periods, you will not be permitted to return here for any reason. Once training is finished you are free to do whatever you wish, even come back here. Now I don't care what's it's like for you at home, but around here, you do things our way. Each and every morning, before you are permitted to go to breakfast, I want each and every one of your beds made, your areas cleaned and dressed in your uniform. If even one of you isn't ready, the rest will have to wait. You will rise from bed at 6:00 with no exceptions. You may rise earlier if you wish, but not later. Lights out will be a 10:00PM. Any questions?" no one replied. "Good, now I want each and every one of y'all to get a good night's sleep tonight, you've got a long day of training tomorrow." he said as he dismissed them.

Most of the recruits left once they were dismissed, but not Kristel. She was still nervous about joining her fellow recruits. Before Wood left, Kristel made sure to stop him. "Hey, uhh, Greg. Thanks for sticking up for me back them." She said to him. "Hey, we'll are on the same Team, right. Anyways, good luck with your training" he replied. "Thanks. Same to you." She said as they shook each other's hand.


	3. Basic Training

Chapter 3: Basic Training

Kristel could not sleep that night. In addition to the sounds of snoring recruits preventing her from sleeping, she keep asking herself questions. _What will training be like. Will it be difficult. Will it involve me getting shot at? _It felt like an eternity as she tried to get to sleep, battling the noise and her own fears.

By the time she was able to sleep, it felt like two seconds later, the trumpet for reveille was already playing as a signal for everyone to get out of bed. Some, like Kristel immediately rose and got into their morning routine, while others took longer to get out. Many of them made a beeline to the showering facilities in hopes of getting hot water. Some simply stayed behind to make their beds and change into their uniforms. Kristel took her's and went to a stall in the bathroom to change: she was uncomfortable about stripping off her clothes in from of a bunch of guys.

At 6:30, Sgt. West entered the room to do inspection. Each and every recruit lined up in from of their beds in an orderly line, standing at attention. He walked up the aisle, inspecting the uniform of every recruit as well as their bed. He stopped at the bed of a recruit who did not do it properly. "What the hell do you call that, son?" he said to him sternly. "Sorry, sir. It's just that it's hard to make the bed on the top bunk." he replied nervously. "How the hell is that an excuse. Now do you see anyone else having that problem? Well do you?" the recruit remained silent. "Now I want you to do it over in front of me. You will not stop until I am satisfied." "Sir, yes sir!" the recruit replied as he went to making his bed. He straighten sheets and tucked the blanket nervously until the Sergeant was satisfied. "Good. Now we are all hungry, and we don't want to wait around for you again!" he said to him. He continued his inspection. Apart from telling a couple of the recruits to tuck in their shirts, it went over smoothly, allowing them to leave at 6:40.

Breakfast was a continental style deal where the recruits would line up, grab a tray and grab a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon as well as a slice of banana bread. The breakfast was slightly better than the dinner, but not as much. One thing that Kristel did note was a brilliant conversation about the merits of putting ketchup on scrambled eggs. "You know what I never understood." one of the recruits said "why people put ketchup on scrambled eggs. It's disgusting. You put ketchup on french fries, hamburgers and hot dogs. not on your breakfast. It's like putting salt in your coffee. It just doesn't." "SHUT UP!" yelled the other recruits he was sitting with.

Scout training for Kristel on a field, where a drill instructor stood up front in front of a table. On the table were two kinds of firearms: a shotgun of sorts and a pistol, as well as a pair of shoes and an aluminum bat. under the table was two bags. "Good morning, future scouts." the instructor addressed the recruit. "My name is Drill Instructor Jack Bailey, and I am here to make each and every one of you into a efficient scout for the Red Team."

"Now before you can become an efficient scout, you must learn what your role on the Red Team is. First of all, you were chosen for your speed. You can easily run circles around any other class, but there is also a trade off. The only additional weight on your body will be the weapons you carry: you will not be wearing any armor at all. Your task as a scout is use your speed to maneuver around enemy defense and capture vital pieces of intelligence as well as secure command points before the enemy team can get to them. There is one rule as a scout: speed is your best friend. It is your only friend."

He picked up the pair of shoes off of the table. "Of course, as a Scout, you won't be sent into battle defenseless by any means. You will have your own tricks of the trade, such as this pair of shoes" he pointed to the pair of shoes, which caused some skeptical looks from the recruits. "Now I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. These are not ordinary shoes. They are shoes specially designed for scouts. First of all, they will give a boost to your already impressive speed. Second of all, there are two small air jets built into the heels of your shoe that allow you to make an additional jump after your first one, allowing you to reach heights and cross gaps that other classes cannot." he put the shoes down and picked up the shotgun. "Many classes are issued a shotgun, however scouts are issued a special lever-action scattergun. Slightly more powerful than the standard issue shotgun, it fires 12 gauge shotgun rounds at a reasonable pace. Now this weapon is by no means to be used at longer ranges. Otherwise, you'll just be wasting ammo. Next he have this pistol" he put down the Scattergun and picked up the pistol. "This is the Sig Sauer P229 Pistol. It shoots 12 round magazines of 9mm rounds and weighs 775 grams unloaded. This weapon, though not as powerful as your scattergun, can be used to hit targets that are farther away. And finally." he picked up the bat "We have this aluminum bat. Yes, we are issuing you a bat. Your bat is designed to attack targets without wasting ammunition. Perfect for smacking that unsuspecting soldier upside the head." he put down the bat.

"Now before we begin the obstacle course, I want to stress one more thing about these weapons: they are for self defense. DO NOT GO PICKING FIGHTS WITH STRONGER CLASSES. You will die. Speed and mobility is your best weapon. Now, follow me." He picked up the bags on the ground and let the future scouts to an obstacle course. All Kristel could see facing forward was a set of wooden stairs to climb over. "Now, we're going to start off simple. Run through this obstacle course as fast as you can. Once you complete it, head back and run through it again. Once the first person gets over the stairs, the second one goes. Ready? GO GO GOOOOO!"

Kristel was up first, so she immediately began her sprint. First, she had to make it over the wooden stairs. Once she scaled the stairs, she jumped down only to be met with a series of four hurdles she had to jump over. Afterwards, she immediately have to get down and crawl under a barb-wire netting that only allowed her to army crawl through it. By the time she reached a climbing wall with a rope ladder, Sgt. Bailey was already barking at her to move faster. "CLIMB THAT WALL! NOW GO DOWN THAT ROPE! CROSS THAT BRIDGE! CMON, MY DEAD GRANDMOTHER CAN MOVE FASTER THAN YOU!" When she was done, she jogged around the course and went through it again.

"You guys are going to have to pick up the pace. You're supposed to be the fastest class around. Hell, I've seen heavies that run faster than you guys." Sgt. Bailey said to the scouts, who were breathing heavily from fatigue. "Now we will practice the use of your special issue Scout shoes." he added as he open up the bags, which turn out to contain the same shoes he showed during the beginning of the training session. "Well, what the hell are you waiting for. Grab a pair and put them on!" Kristel complied and replaced the boots she was wearing with the shoes. _Hmm, almost feels like the track shoes I used to wear._

She looked up ahead at the instructor when the other recruits had put their shoes on as well. It was then she noticed that he was also wearing a pair of the shoes as well. "All right, now in order to perform a double jump with these shoes, you will first need to perform a jump. Then, while in mid-air, push off against the air in order to activate the air jets in your shoes to perform the second jump. However, do it too late and the jet will not activate. I will demonstrate right." he said as he jumped. Once in mid-air, however, he jumped again and fell to the ground. This caused astonished looks from all the recruits, including Kristel. _Damn! I could've used a pair of these for Long Jumping. _She thought to herself. "Well, I'm glad to see that you guys are impressed, but now it's time that you guys did the same. I want to see all of you attempt to do a double jump right now! GO GO GOOO!"

Kristel had initially struggled with the shoes. _How the how am I supposed to push off against the air? _She thought. After a couple of screw ups, she had accidentally managed to set off the jets, allowing her to perform a double jump. "Good work, now keep going." Sgt. Bailey said once he saw her correctly perform a double jump. _But I forgot how I did it._ She thought. However, she had finally learned how to do it and was able to pull off a double jump from a standing position flawlessly.

"Good! Well I can see you guys can jump better than you can run. But jumping around in one place isn't going to save your ass in the heat of combat. Now it's time for a course to test if you can use you can actually use your skill to do something useful!" he said as he lead the recruits to another obstacle course. This time, it was a set of platforms suspended from the ground. They were set a distance from each other so that no single jump could clear them. The ground was rough and sandy. _What? I only just figured out how to do a double jump from a standing position. It's not like I've mastered this already. _She thought. "Alright, now your key advantage over other classes is that you can access places that others cannot, except for maybe some suicidal soldier with a rocket launcher or a demoman with a sticky bomb, but that's beside the point! Now remember, you will do all screwing up here. If you screw up here, you'll leave with some bruises, scrapes, but that's about it. If you screw up in the field and land in front of a pissed off heavy, you will be shipped home in a body bag."

"Now, young lady, what's your name?" he said, pointing at Kristel. "uh...Sir, Kristel Wright, Sir!" she replied, saluting. "Well now, Ms. Wright, you look like a good jumper, I'll bet you'll have no problem completing this course. Ready?" _Uhhh, actually, no I'm not. Could I... _"GO!" he yelled. Kristel had no choice but to sprint forward. She jumped onto the first platform, which covered about a 3.5ft x 3.5ft area. She ran forward and sprung off. She activated the air jets in her shoes, allowing her to take an additional jump allowing her to reach the platform across the way. She made the next platform jump after that, however, she missed the timing on the third jump, causing her to collide with the ground face first. A sharp, stinging pain had immediately formed in the areas she had banged. Tears formed in her eyes as she cradled her bleeding elbow and walked over the the instructor. "What's the matter? Did you get hurt? Are you crying?" he asked in a sarcastic tone. She nodded sadly. "WELL SUCK IT UP! YOU'RE GOING TO DEAL WITH A LOT WORSE IN THE FIELD!" he yelled back. _Ohh right, I forgot. Military. No crying_. She thought.

She examined her wounds as the next recruit went to attempt the obstacle course. There were two deep gashes on both of her elbows and one on her knee as well as a couple of scraps on her hands. The recruit in front of her only made the first jump and then he fell rolling on the ground. _Oww, well at least I'm not the only one who messed up..._ The drill instructor was immediately all over him. "Nice screw up. If this were in the field, YOU'D BE DEAD! NOW NEXT PERSON! GO!"

She tried again once everyone had gone through once. She made it to the second jump, but the pain from her wounds kicked in, breaking her concentration. "Owww" she yelled as she fell again, this time, adding new cut scraps and further agitating her other ones. The pain stabbed at her physically and emotionally, reminding her that she messed up again. Still, she cringed against it and tried to hold in her tears. "Dammit, God damn shit uggghhh" she cursed to herself as the wounds stung at her.

"Does it hurt whenever you fall down to the ground? Does it sting whenever your failures cause you to get cut up? Well does it?" he bellowed. The recruits remained silent. "Well, I'm throughly disappointed in you guys. I thought I was on to something. Do you mean to tell me that you can only double jump properly when you're standing still? That may be useful in some places, but THE RED TEAM IS NOT ONE OF THEM! EITHER START JUMPING LIKE REAL SCOUTS OR ALL OF YOUR ASSES ARE SHIPPED HOME." his eyes moved over to Kristel. "Well now, Ms. Wright. Would you like to try again, or would you rather cry some more?" "Sir, I'd rather try again, Sir!" she responded. _Geez, a simple "try again, Ms. Wright" would have done just fine. _she thought as she started the course. The pain started to work up once she made it to the third platform. _Urrgghh. Owww, Can't go on. Waitaminute, NOT THIS TIME_. She clenched and took the jump, then doubled jumped and landed perfectly. Ten platforms later, she was finally able to make it to the end of the course. She jumped down and landed perfectly, brushed a little dust off of her t-shirt and looked out. The other recruits clapped, even Sgt. Bailey looked somewhat pleased. "That, men, is what I want to see. Now each of you keep going through this obstacle course until you get it."

..."Well, if you though that was tough, you aren't going to enjoy the rest of your training. Tomorrow, we do some firearms training, with still targets, moving targets, and later on, firing like double jumping. Remember: you can dodge bullets until the cows come home, but if you ain't shooting back, you aren't going to make a lot of headway. Now run along. DISMISSED!" he yelled, dispersing the recruits. By the time her training for today was done, she had acquired various different cuts and scrapes along her arms, legs as well as a small tear in her shirt.

Dinner that night was meatloaf, with a sweet potato and slice of bread. Though the quality was only slightly better than of last night's meal, the new recruits shoveled it down rather quickly.

Kristel sat next to Wood as usual, chatting up with him about their day in their separate training courses. "Hey, are you alright, you've been cringing an awful lot since you can in here." Wood asked with a concerned tone. "Ohh, yeah, I'm alright." she replied. "Aside from the gashes on my elbow, and the cuts on my hand, and the bruises on my knees, and the..." "Ok, I get it. Geez, what the hell did they do to you in Scout training today?" he interrupted. "Well, there was this obstacle course that he set up that was supposed to test our ability to perform the double jump. Of course, many of us messed up and believe me, the fall is painful." she replied. "Ohh, I'm sorry to hear that. If it's any consolation, I didn't do so hot in sniper training today." he added.

"Hey look, Greggy's got a girlfriend!" A couple of other recruits came and sat across from Wood and Kristel. "H-h-hey, who the hell said you two could sit here?" he said to them, blushing. Kristel was just as red. "Who are these guys?" she asked. "A couple of other snipers, or so they say." he replied. "Isn't it so sweet?" the first sniper said to his friend. "Yeah, his girlfriend is here to comfort him after he fucked up in sniper training today." the second one replied. "Hey, fuck you! First of all, she's not my girlfriend. Second of all, it's my first time with one of those sniper rifles. What do you expect?" he said defensively. "That's no excuse." the first sniper said. "By the way, who is your girlfriend. I didn't see her at sniper training today." the second sniper added. "That's because I'm a scout, you jackass." Kristel said, glaring at him. "Yeah, some scout you are. I heard you were crying like a baby when you fell down and got hurt." he retorted. "Well hey, that's what makes them a good couple. He's a sniper that can't shoot and she's a scout that can't jump." the first one added. Kristel was blushing furiously and couldn't think of a retort. Luckily, Wood had quickly regained his composure. "And you two are such a good couple because you always finish each other's sentences. Why, if you two were fanfiction characters, authors would slash you together like there was no tomorrow." he said, smiling. "That's pretty big words coming from a man who can't shoot." the first sniper angrily retorted. "Yeah, well give me time. I guarantee you I'll shoot better than both of you fuckers put together." he smirked. "We'll see about that. But just remember: when you and your girlfriend are sent home because of your incompetence, we'll be there laughing as we became honorary snipers for the Red Team. So long, blind-eye." he said as they both left. "Yeah, well don't expect any sympathy from me when you two get shipped home yourselves." Wood yelled back.

Kristel turned to Wood. "Did you really do that bad in sniper training today. I thought you were really good" She asked, confused. "Hey, give me a break, I've never shot one of those rifles, or even a moving target for the matter." he replied. "Hey, we're on the same team, no need to get defensive." she said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm not getting defensive, it's just." he looked into her pleading eyes. "Nevermind." he said. "Just tell me, how was sniper training." she asked him. "Alright, I'll tell you..."

Earlier that day, Wood and the other potential snipers were gathered at a firing range. The range was split into two sections by a fence: on one side were benches where spectators could sit, which were filled with the recruits, On the other side were several tables, each containing a chair, a pair of ear protection muffs, protective goggles, and a sniper rifle with a rather huge scope on the top. In the middle of the range, there was a table that contained another sniper rifle, a sub machine gun and a machete. Wood was clearly pleased with himself. _Alright, time to show these amateurs how Greg Wood shoots_. He thought to himself.

A man wearing a Red Instructor's uniform walked over to the middle table. "Good morning, future snipers. My name is Sergeant George Ford, and I'm responsible for making snipers out of each and every one of you." he said. "Now, a good sniper can be a valuable member of any unit, while a bad one can be nothing but another mouth to feed in the Red Team. Your job as a sniper is to provide cover for your team, in which you will use one accurate precise shot to down an enemy rather than spray bullets every where and hit nothing but air and walls."

"Now the two most important assets to a good sniper are accuracy and efficiency. Accuracy is paramount: if you can't hit anything, you might as well put down you weapon and wave a flag that says "kill me, Blue Team, I am useless!" There is also efficiency. The Blue Team isn't stupid. They do not like to come out in the open, stand around, and wait for you to shoot their heads off. Chances are, if you find a target in the open, you will only have a few seconds at most to take him out before he get into cover. Therefore, you must be accurate, but do not spend all day lining up a shot. If you are that kind of person, then leave this Team and join a target shooting club."

"Before you start, let me show you what kind of gear you are issued as a sniper." he said as he picked up the rifle. "This is your main weapon. Your sword and shield, your tool of the trade. This is your bolt action sniper rifle. It fires 7.62mm rounds and it is equipped with a 6x scope for hitting far away targets as well as a laser sight for ease of aim.. Now pay attention: this sniper is equipped with a charger that will charge your shots, allowing them to go faster and hit harder, taking down even the most stalwart of heavy weapons guys and even punching through vehicle armor. Remember: it should only take one shot to bring down whatever you are trying to kill. If you charge your shots, you'll have a better chance of killing your enemy. One more thing: if at all possible: aim for the head. Not even the heavy can take a charged shot to the noggin and live to tell the tale.".

He put down the sniper rifle and picked up the sub machine gun. "Now if you are a good sniper, you should never have to use this. Of course, even the best of us can get caught off guard. Snipers have no equal in long range combat, however that sniper rifle of yours is the worst thing you can have in close range combat, which is why you are issued this sub machine gun. This is the Heckler and Koch MP5K. It shoots 15 round magazines of 9mm ammo and can be shot either in fully automatic or single shot. It works in a pinch when someone does get close. However, do not use this as an assault weapon: you've got other teammates for that." he then picked up the machete "Now this is your standard issue machete. In addition to cutting down thick brush for tropical or forest missions, it can be used as a weapon, such as some pesky spy who thinks it's funny to stab our snipers in the back. Now this weapon is only to be used as a last resort, should you be caught at close range and your MP5K is out of ammo. You are not rambo. Charging with this weapons is asking to be filled full of holes."

"Now, please take a position on the firing range." He instructed as the recruits rose. _Thanks for getting done with the formalities, sir, now it's time to show you how the master does it_. Wood thought to himself. "Do not touch or do anything until you are told to do so." he added as everyone took their seats on the firing line. "Right now, you are receiving ammo, do not touch the ammunition or the firearm until instructed to do so." he added as boxes containing 5 7.62mm rounds were distributed among the recruits. "Alright, now we will start with simple stationary target. Down the field, you can see your target at long range. You are to hit your target and make your shots as close together as you can. You are to shoot at your target and only your target. Now, put your eyes and ears on." He commanded as everyone put their ear and eye protection on.

"Place your rifles in the firing position."

"Take one round, lock and load."

"Pull the bolt back, keep your finger off the trigger."

"Commence firing. Fire all rounds."

Wood charged his shot and was getting ready to line up. However, as the shot charged, he noticed the red dot that the sniper rifle gave off got in the way and was taken aback. _What. Why is this red dot there. I can shoot fine without it. Besides, it would just be a red flag for the Blue Team, no pun intended._ he thought. Still, he went through his usual routine to shoot. He looked through the scope and steadied his hand. He took a deep breath, and squeezed the trigger, letting a shot off into the target. _Dammit, nowhere close to the center._ he thought. His next four shorts weren't any better. Not only were they nowhere close to the center, but there were farther apart. _Fuck!_

Once everyone fired off their shots, the Drill Instructor spoke up. "Put your rifles down and retrieve your targets." He said to the recruits. Wood went over to his target and cursed. Another sniper spoke to him. "Nice shooting. Of course, if you are blind that is." "Get bent. I'm actually pretty hot stuff with a .22 you know." he retorted. "Well, it sure doesn't show from your target right there. Remember, you're in the big leagues now." the sniper's friend said back. _Well, fuck you too. _He thought.

The Drill Sergeant wasn't happy either. "Son, what's your name?" he asked sternly. "Greg Wood, sir!" he said. "Greg, have you shot a rifle in your life?" he asked. "Sir, yes sir!" he responded. "Well, I'm thoroughly disappointed in you. I'd understand this kind of shoddy performance from a greenhorn who's never seen a rifle in his rifle, but an experienced shooter such as yourself? You better step your game up, or else your ass is going home. You got that?" he scolded. "Sir, yes, sir!"

"Now, we will do the same thing with simple moving targets. Knowing how to hit a moving targets is what separates snipers from chumps with .22 rifles that shoot coke cans in their backyard." he said. _Is that a jab at me?_ Wood wondered. "You will receive the same commands as before."

"At this time. Put your eyes and ears on."

"You are now receiving ammo, do not touch the ammo or the firearm."

"Place your rifles in the firing position."

"Take one round, lock and load."

"Pull the bolt back, keep your finger off the trigger."

"Commence firing. Fire all rounds."

Wood didn't do any better with the moving targets. He tried to follow them, but ended up hitting outside the target or missing it completely, cursing as he went along. "BANG!" _Dammit! _"BANG!" _Shit! _"BANG!" _Son of a bitch! _"BANG!" _Fuck! _"BANG" _GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! _ The sniper duo was quick to criticize once they went up to get their targets. "Wow, I guess in some cases, practice DOESN'T make perfect." the first sniper smirked at him. "Fuck you!" he snapped. "Is that the best retort you got." the sniper's friend added. "Face it: you are a pathetic sniper, give it up and go home!" he said as he walked away. _I wish you fuckers were on the Blue Team so I could blow your fucking heads off_.

"Wood..." The Drill Sergeant said to him after training. "That was the worst shooting I've seen in my entire career. I've seen stoned people that shoot better than you. You aren't making it on to Red Team with that sorry excuse you call shooting. Now I ain't sending you home yet, but if you don't improve, your ass is out of here! Do I make myself clear?" "Sir, Yes Sir!" Wood replied and walked away, dejected.

... "And that's how it went." Wood said to Kristel. "Don't worry about it. It's your first day. I'm sure you'll improve." she said back. "Yeah, but I didn't expect to shoot so bad. I guess I was just so overconfident because I could shoot a .22, I could shoot an actual sniper rifle." he look down. "I'm the worst sniper ever." Kristel put an arm around him. "You're not bad. I believe you when you say you've shot before. It's just your first day with that rifle, that's all. I'm sure that once you get the hang of it, you'll be awesome." she said. "You really think so." he asked. "Listen, the only thing worse that being over confident is being under confident. If you have no confidence, you'll end up failing at everything you do and your enemies will trample all over you. If you think you can't do it, you won't be able to. Even if you don't have a good chance at something, if you try with some confidence, you'll at least have a chance." she said.

"Thanks, Kris." he replied. "Uhh, you don't mind if I call you that, right." he added. "No, not at all, Greg." she replied. "Hey, wanna come join me later tonight in the courtyard for some football." he asked. "No, I'm beat. I think I've taken enough beatings for one day. I'm turning in early." she said. "Ok, I'll come by later. Want to play some cards or something once I come back." he asked. "Sure, that sounds like fun." she said as she got up. "Ohh yeah, I've got a question for you: is your dad a lawyer by any chance?" he asked. "No. Why?" she wondered. "Err, don't worry about it, I'll see you later." he said to her.

Kristel sat on her bed, wrapping bandages around some of the wounds that looked more serious. She looked down and thought to herself.

_I'll become an awesome Scout yet. I'll be able to jump over building ands around soldiers with grace. And you, Greg Wood. You'll become a great sniper as well. Just give it time. I know you can do it..._


	4. The Dustbowl Front

Chapter Four: The Dustbowl Front

**Location: En Route to the Dustbowl Front**

Kristel's training seemed like only a distance memory as she looked out the window of the Red Team V-12 Osprey. She had managed to get used to the blistering hot weather during her training sessions, the subpar quality of the food served as well as the wounds she received from failed double jumps.

Her final test was an obstacle course where she not only had to double jump and dodge around dangerous obstacles to get to a flag and return it, but also she had to shoot a certain amount of cardboard cutouts of Blue Team soldiers that popped out of nowhere. This obstacle course wasn't the same haggard wooden one she dealt with on her first day, but a sophisticated mechanized one which had platforms that appeared and retracted, pistons that would try to knock you off of the platforms, machine gun turrets that fired tranquilizer darts and a lake of steaming liquid to punish those who fell in. She had remembered almost getting nailed by a piston, but kicking off of it while it was still in motion and getting a boost on her jump, effectively lowering her time.

She had meet with Wood in the hangar before they were sent into combat. She was disappointed that they would not be fighting together because they each had their own separate missions. "Sorry Greg, but we're probably not going to see each other for awhile. I'm being shipped off to the Dustbowl Front to link up with the Red Team unit there." she said to him. "Do you know what your mission is about?" he asked. "I don't know, all I heard was the word Übercharge." she replied. "And what about your mission." "Me, I'm being grouped up with 5 other snipers and guess who isn't coming along." he said gleefully. "Who?" she asked. "Remember those two guys that were giving us shit the first day of training and riding our asses since? Well it turns out both of their asses are sent home. Man, you should have been there, I was laughing at the whole time going "Who's a shitty sniper now, bitch!" he answered. "Wow...that sure sounded uhhh...like a party." She said. _You know, when I said get some confidence, I didn't mean gloat at them when you got in the Red Team over them_. She thought to herself. "So what about your mission?" she asked. "Ok, I'm in an all-sniper squad and we are supposed to be taking down a Blue Team VIP, but my buddy call him the Prez." he said. "And they are only sending 6 snipers? Why don't they send other units?" she wondered. "Are you kidding me? Red Team intelligence told us that the place they are escorting him through is a sniper's paradise. There will be so many place to snipe these Blue Team bastards from, I'll be damned if they get 100 yards. Plus they also said that the Blue Team Bodyguard force consists of entirely Medics, Soldiers and HW Guys. We'll fuckin' pound 'em." he gloated. "And you know what else?" he asked.

However, Kristel's attention was turned towards an office along the side of the hangar. Inside was a Red Team officer apparently speaking to the same blue suited man she saw at the track meet. _Him again? What's he doing at a Red Team base, is he..._ her thought process was cut off when Wood spoke "Hey, are you there?" "Ohh, uuuhhhh...yeah." she said, embarrased. "Is something on your mind." he asked, worried. "It's nothing, don't worry about." she said. "Anyways, my flight is leaving, so I have to get going." Wood said. "Ok. By the way." she said, looking into his eyes. "What?" he asked. She took his hands in hers. "Thanks for everything." She said. "Hey...what are friends for?" he said, blushing as they turned and headed to their separate plains.

She looked back at the others in the plane, some fresh out of training, others being transferred to the Dustbowl front. During basic, she learned what other classes looked like and could tell them apart. The crew consisted of herself, another scout, two soldiers, a medic, a demoman, a sniper and a heavy. She had mostly noted the demoman, who was a man of dark skin, wearing an eye patch and drinking out of a whiskey bottle. Hey, so what this freakin' Ubbercharge thing were trying get." the scout blurted out, pronouncing it like the word "Rubber" "It's pronounced Übercharge." the medic spoke up. "Whatever, what is this freakin' thing?" he asked. "It's a device that medics use that they charge while healing teammates. When it's fully charged, it's able to make teammates invulnerable." Kristel said to him. "WHAT? BLUE TEAM GETS INVUNERABILITY? THAT AIN'T FREAKIN' FAIR?" the scout yelled at her. _Excuse me for doing my homework!_ she thought angrily. "Well, maybe our mission is to steal this Übercharge device so we can use it. Ever think of that." one of the soldiers piped in. "Whatever. I'll go in, bat a few freakin' skulls in and steal their secret crap!" the scout said confidently. _If he says "freakin'" one more time, I'm going to bat his head in._ Kristel though exasperated. Finally, the demoman spoke. "I don't care what we goin' in for, long as I get to BLOW UP SOME BLOODY BLUE TEAM BLOCKHEAD!" the demoman yelled in a Scottish accent, holding up his bottle. "Dammit, have you been drinking again." the other soldier said to the demoman. "What do you mean "again?"" the demoman replied. "Well, this appears to have been the 6TH BOTTLE OF WHISKEY YOU DOWNED SINCE THIS MORNING! WHERE DO YOU KEEP GETTING THOSE AND WHY IS RED TEAM NOT CONFISCATING THEM?" the soldier asked in a frustrated tone. "Hey, I fight better when I'm drunk." he replied. _How lovely. My team's demoman is a black Scottish cyclops that drinks heavily. Why do I have a feeling my career on the Red Team isn't going to end well?_ Kristel thought.

The Red Team Osprey headed towards a landing strip in the desert. Kristel looked out the window and could see a trail of red lights along the strip. In the distance were some red tents, as well as a giant warehouse of some sort, with red lights along the corners of the roof as well as the Red Team logo, which consisted of a skull and the words "RED TEAM" written below.

The rear hatch of the Osprey open. _Lovely, they have a welcoming party for us..._ Kristel thought as she saw three men which she identified as a sniper and two engineers.

The sniper was dressed differently than the other snipers she had seen thus far. He wore an Akubra style slouch hat, a brown leather vest and pants, a red shirt and also wore yellow tinted shooter's glasses. His sniper rifle was slung over his back and his machete was in a sheath attached to his leg.

One of the engineers was dressed in a standard outfit, with brown overalls, a red shirt, black tinted goggles and a construction hat. However, he only had one yellow glove on his right hand. The other one, a man who looked to be in his late 20s, only wore a red shirt and brown construction pants.

Once the demoman stepped off of the Osprey, all three of them let off a collective sigh. Kristel swore she could hear one of them mutter "Aww, _him?_" Once all of the Red Team members had left the Osprey the sniper spoke. "Good day!" he said in an Australian accent. "Welcome to the Dustbowl Front, mates. Follow me and I'll go over the mission for ya." he said as he as signalled the group to follow him.

He read the Red Team unit into a larger tent, which contained some fold up tables placed in a square formation. There were eleven fold up chairs set up around the table: three of them along the wall opposite from the entrance, two on each of the perpendicular sides and four on the remaining side. In the far right corner were two file cabinets and across from that a Red Team flag. Kristel took a seat in one of the chair and the others did the same.

The sniper she met when she got off the Osprey took the middle character in the section of three and the engineers sat on either side of him. "First of all, let us introduce ourselves: my name is Razor, and these blokes are Sidewinder" he pointed to the engineer with the hardhat, "And AtlasEXE" he pointed to the other engineer. "Alright, here's the situation: we've got some wanker named Dr. Giftspritze holed up in a complex in the Dustbowl sector. We believe this is the place he's doing research on that Übercharge device that's been giving us trouble over the past six months. Now we know where the base is located, we are just having trouble getting in. The place is a bloody fortress and his defenses are near impenetrable. He's got sentry all over the bloody place and guards that patrols the canyons around it 24/7. The good thing though is that he hasn't bolted from his little rabbit hole because he thinks he's safe there."

"Now our mission is to break in, and steal the blueprints for this Übercharge device. We know from past raids on his labs that he keeps his blueprints in a safe someplace within the base. Now we believe we've got a way we might be able to break in yet: a giant tank fitted a steamroller, a huge cannon and several machine gun turret. We'll have two squads: One inside the tanks, ready to disperse into the complex once we breach the main. Another squad will go on around along the canyon and try to take out any entrenched anti tank defenses they may have, whether it be soldiers, snipers or demomen. Once you have taken out the canyon's entrenched defenses, you will regroup with the squad inside the tank and you will storm the Dustbowl lab. Now once you're inside, be quick. Once he realizes his perimeter defenses aren't so safe, that bloody wuss Giftspritze is going to bolt like the chicken shit he is. The blueprints for the Übercharge are our top priority. However, if you have a shot at Giftspritze, take it. Any questions, mates?" he asked.

The demoman spoke up in a drunken slur. "Yeah, do I get to blow things up. That would be just dandy." he took a swig from his bottle. _Where does he keep getting those. _she wondered. Razor sighed. "Yes, Cyclops, you will get to blow things out, AND STOP DRINKING THAT BLOODY WHISKEY, WE'RE IN A BRIEFING!" he yelled. "You can take me grenades, you can take me sticky mines, BUT YOU WON'T TAKE ME BOTTLE, YA GOT THAT!?" Cyclops yelled back. Razor let out a longer sigh, but said "Whatever, we're set to move out tomorrow, at the crack of dawn, mates. Good luck and God speed!" he said, dismissing them.

AtlasEXE pulled Kristel aside. "You must be one of the new guys, ehh?" he said in a British accent. "Uhh...yeah, I am. By the way, what's with the names." she asks. "What names?" he wondered. "You know, Razor, Sidewinder, AtlasEXE and Cyclops. Surely your parents didn't name you that, right?" she said. "Ohh those. Those are our codenames, which we were given by the Red Team. My real name is Ryan Atlas, and I aim to keep you alive out there in the field." he answered. "Thanks, I guess. I've been wondering about a couple of things." she said. "Such as?"

"Well, first of all, Cyclops, that demoman. Is he okay. I mean, he's always drunk, wouldn't that be the wrong kind of person to let handle explosives?" she asked. "Ohh, Cyclops, don't worry about him. He may not look it, but he gets the job done." he replied. "Are you sure? I saw Razor getting pissed off at him earlier." she said to him. "Well, they have a rather...how should I say this...rocky relationship. He knows that Cyclops is a good demoman, but the fact that he's always drunk off his arse, even during the most inappropriate times, really gets to him." "Is there a time when he isn't drunk?" she wondered. "When he's asleep, and I'm not even sure of that. He downs a bottle of whiskey when he gets up, downs one before going to battle, drinks randomly throughout the day and knocks off an entire bottle before bed." Kristel's mouth hung over in surprise, causing AtlasEXE to chuckle. "Hey, I was surprised to when I learned how much he drank a day.

"Well, putting Cyclops' questionable drinking habits aside, I have another question: why are we fighting this war." she asked seriously. "To destroy the Blue Team of course." he responded in an "Well obviously" tone. "I know that, I mean what's are ultimate goal? Why are we trying to destroy the Blue Team?" she asked. "Ohh, well, we are trying to capture their Flag." she was dumbfounded. "Their...flag?" she asked. "What, didn't they teach you anything at basic." he said. "Uhh...I didn't hear anything about a flag."

"Alright, let me explain. Somewhere in the Blue Team's homeland of Azure lies a giant fortress, known as the Blue Citadel. It's the Blue Team's main base of operations if you will. Anyways, inside is the Blue Flag. If we can capture this, we win the war. However, if the same happens to us, we lose." he said. "What do you mean "the same"?" she asked in response. "Our equivalent to the Blue Citadel is the Red Stronghold. It holds our own country's flag, which the Blue Team is trying to get. We've already lost a lot of ground, and if that Giftspritze bloke were to perfect that Übercharge device, they'd be able to march right in and take the flag with no effort." he said. "But what's so important about the flag?" she was still clueless." "Umm...uhhh...well, look, all you need to know is that it's just important. Just remember we need to get their Flag, and we need to protect ours, you got that?" he said.

"Yes sir!" she responded, though still skeptical."

They were about to part their separate ways, but AtlasEXE called out to Kristel. "By the way, I never got your name." he said. "It's Kristel. Kristel Wright." she responded. "You wouldn't happen to be Geoffrey Wright's daughter, would you?" he asked. she froze up. "Yeah...why?" "I remember your father. Great sniper he was. He and Razor were such a team. It was a shame how he passed on." he responded. "What happened to him?" she wondered. Now it was his turn to freeze up. "I think you'd rather not know what happened, but I will tell you it had something to do with that bastard Giftspritze." he responded. _So, Giftspritze is responsible for my father's death, huh? _she thought. "What was his codename." she asked, trying to change the subject. "His codename was Phoenix." he asked. _Figures..._ she thought.

"Listen, you better get some damn good sleep tonight, because it's going to be a long day tomorrow." he said to her. "Ok, I'll see you later." she said. "Good bye, and good luck to you, Ms. Wright." he said to her. "Please, call me Kristel..."

Kristel sat outside of the compound that night, looking out at the sky. A cool breeze blew through her brown hair. Though she was ready for the assault tomorrow, she still had a lot on her mind. _Giftspritze, huh? _ she thought, stroking her bat. _You better hope we don't meet tomorrow. _She stared at the bat for awhile, trying to picture what kind of man Dr. Giftspritze was, and imagined herself driving the bat into his skull, then taking the Übercharge plans from his swollen corpse. She was also thought back to what AtlasEXE said about the Flag. _So, that's the reason we are fighting this war: for a flag. There's still one question on my mind that's been there ever since I learn of its existance: what's so important about a freaking flag?_


	5. The Steamroller Tank

Chapter 5: The Steamroller Tank

"COVER ME, I'M GOING IN!"

Kristel had her eye on an entrance into the Blue Team's base: an air duct on the roof. However, the path to it was guarding by soldiers and heavies currently engaging Red Team forces.

"Roger that, mate. Let me take out out for ya!" Razor yelled out as he aimed his sniper rifle. He charged his shot, the Red Dot lighting up as he did so. He spotted a Blue Heavy Weapons Guy firing off his minigun, laughing insanely. "Keep laughin' with that head of yours while it's still attached to your bloody neck." he muttered under his breath as he moved the red dot towards his head. Once the two connected, he fired. The shot went through the heavy's skull, bringing him falling to the ground with a thud. Blood squirted from his skull and to the ground.

"Alright, go on in!" he yelled. Kristel began her sprint. An engineer ran up the field and into her path in an attempt to deploy a sentry. She whipped out her baseball bat and smacked him in the while still running, bringing him to the ground before he even had a chance to get the sentry ready. A soldier appeared next with his rocket launcher trained on her. She evaded to avoid the rocket he shot, took out her scattergun and tried to aim at him. Right then, a shot rang out from the distance and the soldier dropped to the ground, followed by a yell of "STAY AWAY FROM MY TEAMMATES, WANKER!"

Kristel was about to reach the air duct when an enemy scout swung a bat into her face. She fell back to dodge the hit. The scout wasted no time and whipped out his scattergun before Kristel could react. "Aww, and you were so close to." the scout mocked, holding Kristel at gunpoint. A red flashing grenade then bounced in and struck the scout, causing him to explode in a shower of blood and guts. "I've got ya covered, Lassie. Now go on it and get us those Übercharge plans!" Cyclops yelled out. _Thanks, I owe you one!_ She though as she climbed into the air duct.

The air duct was barely lit, the only light coming from the gratings in the duct. The ducts were only large enough for her to crouch walk through as well. Kristel looked for the nearest grating and blasted it with her scattergun. She then jump down the newly created hole. _So much for a surprise entrance_ she thought as she hit the ground.

She had ended up in a storage room, with several boxes stacked high. The first thing she noticed were the Blue Team corpses on the ground: two dead soldiers and a dead scout. _Huh, who could have beaten me here?_ she wondered, but then heard the answer. "Hey, you, over there!" a voice called out. Kristel looked and saw a wounded Red Team sniper, who looked like he had taken quite a beating. However, on closer inspection, it turned out to be...

"Dad?"

The red team sniper look back at her. "Kristel, is that you?" he asked. She knew that voice. She look that face of the speaker and saw a man with blue eyes similar to her own and brown, neatly cut hair. It was, without a doubt, her dad, Geoffrey Wright. "Dad!" she yelled and jumped into his arms, embracing him tightly, tears flowing from her eyes and onto her dad's shirt. Geoffrey was taken aback. He couldn't believe that his own daughter had joined the Red Team. "Kristel, honey, what are you doing here?" he asked in a concerned fatherly tone. "Finding out what happened to you. I heard from the Red Team that you were dead." she cried. "It's alright now, I'm here and I'm fine." he said, stroking the back of her head. Her tears had subsided. "I was captured 5 years ago by the Blue Team and keep alive to suffer by Giftspritze. Seems I killed someone close to him I guess." he chuckled. "I heard the sound of explosions from my cell and thought that it would a pretty good time to bust out and meet up with them." "Well, forget the Übercharge plans, I have to get you out of here." she said in a concerned tone. "You mean these." he said and tossed a folded scroll at her. "Though I'd grab a souvenir on my way out." he said. "I love you, Dad." she said as she embraced him again, kissing his cheek. "I love you too, sweetie, now let's get out of here, we can talk later."

BANG!

A gunshot rang out and struck Geoffrey. His battered, bruised body fell to the ground without hesitation. "DAD!" she yelled and held her Dad's fallen body. "Dad! DAD, NOOOO!" she sobbed, holding the body against her. "I'm zorry, was zat mein mistake." a German accent spoke out. She turned and saw a man in a lab overcoat holding a smoking pistol. The man's face was covered in a surgical mask and cap. His eyes were concealed behind mirrored glasses. Her face immediately turn from one of sorrow to one of anger

"Giftspritze, I presume." she muttered through clenched teeth, pointing her scattergun at him. "You assume right, mein dear. And I'd put zat gun away if I was you. You vouldn't want to piss off mein companion, would you?"

A Heavy Weapons stepped out of the shadows with his minigun pointed at her. "Was zat your vater I vasted?" he asked smugly. "You know damn well who is was." she responded in a low, angry tone, her teeth still clenched. "Mein apologies. I'll make it up to you. How about I arrange for you to see him again..." the heavy winded up his gun. "...IN HELL!" he yelled out as the stream of bullets escaped from the heavy's gun.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

Kristel awoke in a cold sweat, breathing heavily and clutching her chest. She was back in her tent and it was still dark out from what she could tell. She looked at her watch "5:06. The assault hasn't even started yet." she said to herself. Still, she couldn't get back to sleep, so she left her tent.

The sky was dark blue, with the stars still out and the moon starting to fade away and become replaced by the sun. She walked through the city of tents in thought. _That was a weird dream. Is my Dad really still alive. What did Giftspritze do to him? _she wondered and looked out into the empty horizon.

And there she saw him. Again. The blue suited man she had seen twice was starting back at her, with the same cold gaze he always did, clutching his briefcase. She slapped her forehead. _This isn't funny. Who are you and why are you following me? _she angrily thought. "WHO ARE YOU!" she yelled out, but the man was gone. _Where did he go?_

"Who are you callin' out to?" a Texan accent called from behind out, She turned around to face a campfire and an engineer sitting by it on top of a toolbox with a mug at his feet, cooking something. "Sidewinder?" she asked. "Yep, it's me. Just who was that anyways." he asked again. _Was that really a person, or was it just a figment of my imagination? _"Ohh, it was no one." she lied. "Whatever. Come, have a seat." he patted another toolbox next to his. Kristel joined him.

"So what are you doin' up at this hour. We ain't set to get up for another hour or so." he asked. "Uhh...I had a nightmare." she said. "Ohh?" he wondered. "Tell me all about it."

"Ok. It...was about my father...I dreamed we were assaulting the Blue Team lab and I got in through an air duct. I saw my father, and he was killed by Dr. Giftspritze. Then a heavy came out, shot at me, and I woke up." she said. "I see. You must miss your father, don't you." he said sympathetically. "I asked AtlasEXE about what happened to him. All he said was that Giftspritze had something to do with it." she replied. "Oh dear. Looks like Atlas didn't want to be the bearer of bad news." he said as he got up. "Where are you going?" she ask. "I have to show you something. Stay there." he replied.

He returned with a pair of blood covered dog tags and a note. He handed the dog tags to her and she read them.

GEOFFREY

WRIGHT

SNIPER

O

"PHOENIX"

"Where did you get those?" she ask nervously. She had a bad feeling about this. "It came with this note." He said as he handed it to her.

"Dear Red Team Schweinhunden:

Let this be a lesson to any of you who want to take a shot at me. Look on the bright side: I saved you the trouble of cremating him!

- Dr. Giftspritze"

Tears welled up in her eyes. _No! _ she thought to herself. "I'm sorry. I couldn't let it hide from her forever." he said to her. She buried her head into her hands and cried. "Noo!" she wailed in between sobs. Sidewinder put an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss, but cryin' ain't gonna bring him back. You just gotta be strong now. It what your Dad would have wanted you to do." he said to her. She looked up. _He's right. I'm in the military now, no use crying._ She thought. "If it'll make you feel any better, I'll let you handle Giftspritze personally." Thought she wasn't that hell bent on revenge, she still was grateful Sidewinder cared about her. "Thanks, Sidewinder." she said to him. She still hadn't finished grieving over him, but she still felt a lot better.

"So, what are you doing up." she asked in an attempt to change the subject. "Me? Well, I'm one of those early to bed early to rise types. I'm not one for the nightlife if you catch my drift." he said. She looked into the skillet and saw some biscuits cooking. Next to it was a saucepan containing gravy. _I should have guessed: Biscuits and gravy. _She thought. "I see you found my breakfast. Yup, every morning, I get up, make a fire, brew some coffee and cook my breakfast." he said to her. "You look like you could use somethin' to eat. Want me to share some with ya." he asked. "No thanks." she replied. "You sure. It's either this, or MREs." he replied. "I'm not really that hungry." she said, looking down. "Hey now, you gotta eat. It ain't go to assault a base on a empty stomach." he said to her. She knew Sidewinder meant well, and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Alright, I guess I'll have some." she finally conceded. "Ohh, you'll like this." he said to her.

"Hey, this isn't bad." she said moments later, eating the biscuits and gravy he had prepared. "I'm glad you enjoy it. Say, once everyone gets up, want to see the Steamroller Tank?" he asked. "I'd love to see it." she replied, finally smiling.

Once six o' clock rolled around, reveille played. Razor walked around waking up the Red Team members. "OI, MATES! TIME TO GET UP! TODAY'S THE DAY!" he yelled out. He walked by the fire where Sidewinder and Kristel sat. "Good mornin' mates. Ready to whoop some Blue Team hides, are ya." he asked cheerfully. "Sure are. Say, mind if I show Kristel here our secret weapon?" Sidewinder replied. "I don't see why not. Just make sure she's back in time for the briefing." Razor replied. Sidewinder got up. "Come with me." he said to her.

Kristel followed along. The two were heading towards the giant warehouse when Kristel accidentally bumped into a medic along the way. "Ohh, I'm sorry." she apologize. The medic just looked back, said "Humph" and then kept walking. _Geez, no need to be rude, I said I was sorry_. She thought.

They has entered the warehouse and noticed AtlasEXE was already in there. "Ohh hey guys. I want just making last minute adjustments to the Steamroller Tank!" he said to them. "Well, I'm here to show Kristel the tank." Sidewinder replied. "Can you do the honors, I'm a bit busy." AtlasEXE replied. "Sure, take a look 'ere. This is the Red Team Steamroller Tank!" he said proudly. Kristel looked up. It was a giant vehicle, about two stories high and about 50 meters long. There was a large cannon mounted on top. Along the sides were 4 machine gun turrets on each side. Large treads held up the enormous hull of the tank and moved it along. In the rear of the tank was a hatch that allowed entrance to the tank and in the front was a giant Steamroller, which stretched the width of the tank.

"This here Steamroller Tank has 2 foot titanium armor plating, a largeass gun mounted on top, several .50 cal machine gun turrets on each side, can hold a squad of up to 12 men, and has a giant Steamroller attached to the front which will flatten any Blue Team soldier dumb enough in the way." he laughed when he said that last part. "Wow, it's rather...big." she said, impressed. "Heh, wait 'til them Blue Team fellas see this. They'll be shittin' in their britches once this puppy comes rollin' 'round. Eh he he he he heh." He looked up at AtlasEXE "You done adjustin' that darn thing yet?" he ask impatiently. "Yes, I am as a matter of fact." AtlasEXE responded just as impatiently.

Just then, Razor came in. "Oi Kristel, it's time for the briefing, mate." he said to her. "Ok." she replied. Before he walked out, he turned to AtlasEXE. "Hey Atlas, remember to spy check everyone before they board the tank, alright. We can't afford to have this thing fall into the wrong hands, alright." he said. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. No spies are getting onboard this tank, you have my word." he said back proudly. I hope so."

The briefing took place in the same tent as last night. Also the tent with Kristel was Razor, Cyclops, two soldiers, a medic, a heavy, and a spy. These people all consisted of Delta Squad. Razor spoke up to quiet the chatting crowd.

"Alright, this is mostly a review of what we went over last night, but listen up." he pointed at a map of the canyon with a stick. "Now we start here. The Blue Team lab is at the far side of this canyon, but this path is well guarded. There are security checkpoints along the ground and entrenched positions for snipers and soldiers inside the canyon walls as well as up on the ridges. Now the Steamroller Tank can handle everything on the ground, but it's vulnerable to rockets and charged sniper shots from the hidden positions. The Steamroller Tank may be tough, but it ain't invincible. During the mission, AtlasEXE and Sidewinder will remain at base, giving us intel on the status of the tank. It we lose it before it breaches the base, we'll have to abort the mission. Once the Steamroller Tank breaches the base, if Alpha Squad inside is still alive, we will group up with them and capture the intelligence. Right, mates, let's do this!" he said. The other soldiers in the tent cheered, including Kristel. "LEEEEETS DO IIIIT!" Cyclops yelled out and downed an entire bottle of whiskey in one go.

AtlasEXE and Sidewinder had their own separate briefing for the tank crew outside the warehouse. The squad that was to be transported, known as Alpha Squad, consisted of five soldiers, two heavies, two medics, a scout, a demoman, and an engineer, who was Sidewinder's brother. The crew consisted of nine soldiers: eight to man the machine gun turrets, one to man the "largeass cannon" and an engineer piloting it. AtlasEXE had his own diagram similar to Razor's hanging up mapping the Canyon. He spoke to each

"Alright, listen up, mates. We start here. The Blue Team lab is on the far side of the canyon. Now the path to the canyon is well guarded against a full frontal assault, but our Steamroller Tank is more than a match for these blokes. Now your real problem is the entrenched positions along the canyon. Razor is sending a team up ahead of you in order to take out anything that the largeass cannon, the machine gun turrets or the steamroller cannot reach. Now the important thing is stop for nothing. Time is of the essence and the Steamroller Tank wasn't exactly designed to be fast. Once you make a breach in the outer wall of the Blue Team Lab, you will regroup with Delta Squad, move in and capture the blueprints. Any questions?" no one spoke up. "Before you can board the Steamroller Tank, I must spy check each and every one of you! We can't afford this piece of machinery to be falling into the wrong hands." a collective groan formed from each of them. "You freakin' kiddin' me. I just got here, I'm not a spy." the scout yelled. "Listen, it's standard procedure, we can't take any risks, alright." AtlasEXE responded and whipped out a small device.

The device was a spy checker, which could scan a person and tell whether it was an actual Red Team member or a Blue Team spy in disguise. These devices were carried by Red Team officers and would use them on a team member whenever they were either acting suspicious or if a huge operation, such as the Blue Team lab assault, was about to go down. AtlasEXE scanned each of the Red Team members, each them registering as clean. "Right, you guys are clean, now let's do it!" he yelled, inciting a cheer from Alpha Squad and the tank crew.

Alpha Squad was sat in the rear of the tank, where the hatch was located. Most of them anyways, since the engineer was still missing. "Cmon, how freakin' long can a guy take a dump." the scout whined. "Shut up, boy, you've been whining your ass off ever since we got here." one of the soldiers replied. Right then, the engineer returned. "Sorry boys. I had to go to the can somethin' fierce." he said to them. "See, there he is, now shut up and enjoy the ride." that soldier said to the scout.

Delta Squad snuck up along the ridge, looking down below. They could see one of the security checkpoints down below: barb wired fencing, a security hut and gate, automated sentry turrets ready to blast Red Team forces that come along, and several patrolling Blue Team soldiers. Razor couldn't help but chuckle to himself: in a manner of minutes, they would all be flattened before the might of the Red Team Steamroller Tank. However, there was first the matter of the entrenched soldiers below. "Alright." Razor pointed to the spy. "You sneak down there and stab them in the back." he said. "Roger that." the spy said in a British accent as he whipped out a small device and changed his appearance to match that of a Blue Team Soldier.

The spy climbed down the ladder into a bunker. There was a window in which two soldiers were pointing their rocket launchers out of. When the spy touched ground, they turned around. "Hey, what the hell are you doin' here." the first soldier spoke it. "I'm here to relieve you from your post." the spy responded. "Yay! Day off!" the first soldier yelled and was about to leave when the second soldier got suspicious. "Wait a second, why are you relieving him?" he asked. "Well, Giftspritze needed him personally for security and told me to tell him." he said. The first soldier sighed. "Dammit, I knew there was a catch." he said as he climbed up the ladder sulking. Once the coast was clear, the spy waited until the second soldier has his back turned. He took off his disguise, whipped out his butterfly knife, and jammed it into soldier's back, instantly killing him. "Terribly sorry, mate, but I'd rather not let any interruptions get in the way of our little mission." he said to the dead corpse.

At the top of the ladder, the Blue Soldier found himself face to face with Razor and surrounded by the remaining members of Red Team's Delta Squad. "'ello wanka! Feel like havin' a little chat?" Razor triumphantly remarked, pointing his sniper rifle at the Blue Soldier's head. "Shit..." he remarked under his breath.

Meanwhile, inside the tank, Alpha Squad sat, waiting to engage into combat. "Man, this is taken freakin' forever! WHEN ARE FREAKIN' GOING TO GET THERE!?" the scout yelled impatiently. "Shut up, already, just be glad you get to be safe inside of this tank instead of getting wasted outside of it." One of the soliders replied. "Yeah, well I'm freakin' bored. Why couldn't I man one of the freakin' turrets instead. At least then I'd be able to do something." Everyone was getting sick of his constant bitching. "You know what, I'm going to go stretch my legs. See you later." the scout said and then got up. "Yeah, why don't you bug the driver instead!" the medic said, exasperated. Once the scout left, the engineer got up. "You know, he's got the right idea. I'm going to stretch my legs too." he said as he followed along with the scout.

"SECURITY CHECKPOINT DEAD AHEAD!" the engineer piloting the Steamroller Tank exclaimed. The soldier manning the gun chuckled. "So flatten it! You have a largeass steamroller after all!" "I know, I was just giving you a heads up in case you wanted to blow some shit up as well." the engineer replied, causing the soldier to grin. "You read my mind." he said as he aimed the cannon.

"Oh my God, RUN!" the Blue Engineer at the checkpoint yelled as he ran out of the security building and tried to make a dash for it. However, the Steamroller Tank's cannon fired off a shot and blasted him along with some other Blue Team sentry guns and soldiers. The tank's steamroller made quick work of the security fence and any soldiers and sentries dumb enough to get in the way. The rest were taken out by the side mounted machine gun turrets.

"Run him down, RUN HIM DOWN!" the Red Soldier inside the tank said to the driver, addressing a Blue Team soldier talking into a radio and attempting to run.

"Dr. Giftspritze, DR. GIFTSPRITZE! WE NEED BACKUP. A GIANT TANK IS HEADING OUR WAY! ALL OF OUR SHOTS JUST BOUNCED OFF OF IT!" he yelled into the said. "So, why don't you feed it with your corpse." a German voice responded. "Are you serious, WE NEED BACKUP!" he yelled back. "Don't vorry, everything is taken care off. All that's left for you is to say your prayers!" Dr. Giftspritze responded smugly. "But WE NEED...AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!" the soldier was flattened by the tank.

"So that's where each of the entrenched soldiers and snipers are located, huh?" Razor has just finished interrogating the captured Blue Soldier. He nodded nervously. "Thanks for bein' a sport, wanka. You get to live. But if I find out you've been lying, I'll personally come back and ram this machete down your throat, mate." he said, and then whacked the soldier with the butt of his sniper rifle, knocking him out. "Move out." Razor said to the rest of his squad.

Delta Squad came across the next entrenched position. "Alright, same thing, go down, and slit his throat." Razor said to the spy, who was already disguised as a Blue Soldier. "One step ahead of you." the spy said as he slid down the ladder.

This time, there was only one soldier. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I'm here to relieve you from your post." the spy replied. "On who's account?"

Unbeknownst to the spy and Delta Squad, a sniper across the canyon had his sniper rifle trained on them. "Wait a moment, there should only be one soldier in there." he aimed up and caught a glimpse of Delta Squad. He put two and two together and realized one of the soldiers was a spy. "Spy this ya bloody wuss." He muttered under his breath as he charged his shot. The Blue Team sniper rifles emitted a blue dot instead of a red dot. He aimed the blue dot on the spy's head and fired, killing him.

"SNIPER, ACROSS THE RIDGE!" Kristel yelled surprised. _That damn soldier lead us into a trap. _She thought. "PLAN B!" Razor yelled. "NOT ONE OF YE'S GONNA SURVIVE!" Cyclops yelled out and starting lobbing grenades into the bunker. Meanwhile Razor aimed across the ridge and saw the enemy sniper, charging his shot. He didn't waste time. He immediately got his head into his crosshairs and fired, killing the Blue Sniper. He then fired at the unconscious body of the Blue Soldier they interrogated, who wasn't far back. "THAT'S WHAT YA GET FOR LYIN', YA BLOODY PIKEY!" he yelled to the now dead Blue Soldier. "Check the hole Kristel, make sure there all dead." Razor said to her. "Ok." she said and went down the ladder. 10 seconds later, she emerged. "Only one soldier, and Cyclops cooked him." she said. "Ok, squad, move on and be vigilant. We don't know how many other units that bastard left out." Razor signaled.

"I'll be right back, I gotta use the can, man." Sidewinder said to AtlasEXE back at base "Whatever." AtlasEXE said back. He then went to the warehouse restroom.

When he entered, he had a strange feeling. For one, he could see a pair of legs already using one of the stalls. _That's odd, no one should be in here_. He thought as he knocked on it's door. "Who's in there?" he asked. No response. He knocked again "Dagnabbit, are you deaf, who's in there?" he asked louder. Still no response. "Say something or I'm kickin' this door down!" he said. Yet again, no response. He drove his foot into the door, breaking the latch and knocking the door back.

Sidewinder was shocked by what he saw. His dead brother, sitting on the toilet with blood coming out of his back. "Oh my God...Billy!" he took a look at him. _But wait, I saw Billy get on the Steamroller Tank with the rest of Alpha Squad..._ he thought. It was then he saw a note on his fallen brother's body. He picked it up and read it.

"Forgive me. I stab backs.

Gustavo the Chameleon.

P.S.: I murdered your toy as well!"

"Dammit, I GOTTA WARN ATLAS THERE'S A SPY ON BOARD OUR TANK!" Sidewinder said as he put the note in his pocket and rushed back to the command center.

Kristel ran from around a corner on the ridge. "I've got two soldiers chasing me!" she yelled to Cyclops, who around the corner. "I'm one step ahead of ya, lassie!" he yelled as he took a swig from his bottle. _Dammit, Cyclops, this isn't the time to drink. I NEED YOUR HELP_. She thought. "Come back here, Little Missy, we won't bite." The Blue Soldiers said as they ran around the corner. Little did they know they had walked into a trap: Cyclops had placed sticky grenades along the corner and was simply drinking to wait for them. "Oh sh..." the Blue Soldiers said in unison before being interrupted by the explosion of the sticky bombs, followed by their own deaths. _Ahh, I see._ Kristel sighed in relief. Cyclops walked over to the charred body parts of the soldiers. "Ohh, they're gonna have to glue you back together...IN HELL!" he yelled to them. She couldn't help but giggle. _I'm beginning to like this guy._ She thought.

"HEY ATLAS! THERE'S A SPY ON THE TANK!" he yelled, running into the control tent. "What? That's impossible! I personally spy checked everyone before they got on board." AtlasEXE responded. "You don't understand. I found my brother Billy death in the warehouse bathroom." he said. "Wait, but I saw...DAMMIT, GOTTA WARN THE TANK!" he replied as he radioed the tank.

"Rolling Thunder, this is Red Base. You have a spy on board. The engineer in Alpha Squad is a spy! Repeat, THE ALPHA SQUAD ENGINEER IS A SPY!" AtlasEXE said into the radio. There was no response. "Rolling Thunder, respond!" he yelled. Still no response. "Dammit, the spy's already severed out communications with the tank." he sighed. "Get Delta on the radio, tell 'em to abort the mission." Sidewinder said.

"They're on to us!" Razor yelled to his squad. They were engaged in a full blown firefight with three Blue soldiers and two snipers on the ridge. Cyclops was happily lobbing grenades at them while making offensive remarks about their families. Suddenly, Razor heard his radio. "Delta, this is AtlasEXE, come in!" Razor picked it up and responded. "What is it, Atlas?" he asked. "We've lost contact with the tank. A spy has sabotaged our communications link and is running rampant onboard our Steamroller Tank. Abort Mission! Repeat, Abort Mission!" he yelled back. Razor suddenly became angry. "BUT YOU SPY CHECKED EVERY BLOODY PERSON THAT GOT ON, DIDN'T YA?" he asked. "Yeah I did, but he still got on. But that's not important. You guys need to get out of there!" AtlasEXE responded. "Atlas, when I get back, I'm having a nice long chat with you!" Razor said sternly. "I understand. Over and out." AtlasEXE replied.

"SO LONG, LADDIES!" Cyclops yelled as he lobbed grenades to cover Delta Squad's escape. As they ran, they heard an explosion and looked over into the canyon. The once mighty Steamroller Tank was blown up from the inside, sabotaged completely, and reduced to nothing more than a scrap heap laying in the middle of the canyon, surrounded by the ruins of a security checkpoint and the fallen Blue Team soldiers it managed to take out before falling itself. Razor then turned from the ruined tank.

_You better have a bloody good explanation for this, Atlas_...


	6. Gustavo the Chameleon

Chapter 6: Gustavo the Chameleon

My name is Gustavo the Chameleon. I am a spy that fights for the Blue Team.

It was 1:17AM when I poke my head out of the storage tent I've been hiding in since everyone had went to bed at 10. It was still dark out, and the grounds around the Red Team encampment were empty, save for a few soldiers patrolling the grounds, compared to earlier, when everyone was out and about. Back when everyone was still up, I had disguised myself as a medic, trying to learn anything more about the assault on the Dustbowl Blue Team lab that was to go down the next day.

My mission was simple. A few days ago, I had learned that the Red Team had constructed a giant tank called "The Steamroller Tank" which they would use to break into our lab. I was then sent in in order to learn about and if possible, steal it. Otherwise, I would have to sabotage it. From what I had learned about the Steamroller Tank from my past few days of recon, not only was it heavily armored, but it had a variety of weapons systems on it, including machine gun turrets, a large cannon, and the Steamroller mounted on the front. It would literally tear through the defenses set up in the canyon path. Naturally, something had to be done.

Stealing the tank while it was still in the garage was impossible, as I had learned. Not only did I not know how to drive the damn thing, but the hatch leading in was almost always sealed up. I've tried on numerous occasions to break into it with no success. The only way in I could see is to stowaway on board once the crew is set to board, then when it was in transit, kill everyone on board and steal the tank.

I took a cigarette from my pack, lit it and took a puff. If there is anything in the world I love more than driving my knife into some poor Red Team sap's back, it's smoking. I'd say on average, I smoke about 60-70 cigarettes a day. Dr. Giftspritze says that one of these days, these cigarettes are going to kill me. Well... maybe. But then again, most of my comrades who don't smoke end up lasting about 5 minutes on the battlefield before being blown to oblivion. I'd say the least of my worries would involve cancer sticks. And lucky I had those cigarettes with me. What am I supposed to do while I wait for these Red Team guys to get moving: sleep. Yeah, and let some Red Team soldier find my sleeping body and wake me up with a Rocket Launcher. Thanks, but no.

After a while, I checked my watch again. "5:04AM..." I said to myself. I decided I'd try to find another way into the tank, so I left the storage tent. The first thing I noted was that there were no more guards patrolling the grounds. However, there was still an engineer camping by a fire cooking something. _Great. Stab or no stab...forget it, he ain't worth the effort. _ I thought as I snuck over to the warehouse.

This time, I tried climbing up onto the tank. The machine gun turrets looked like they would be able to sneak into easily. I tried climbing into one, but the tank was harder to climb on than I thought. About an hour later, a man came in.

That younger looking guy, AtlasEXE I think his name was, entered the building. _Dammit. _I thought as I silently climbed off the tank and into a tread. He seemed to be adjusting the treads on the other side of the tank. I tried looking for the right moment in order to sneak towards the door and make my escape, back into the storage tent. Exasperated, I placed back on my medic disguise, cloaked my body and slipped out unnoticed.

Yes, I just said I cloaked my way out. You see, this device is one of the primary reasons I am still alive in the field. Every time I find myself in an unfavorable position, I just place on my cloaking device, become completely invisible and reacquire my position. I can slip by even the most fortified position unnoticed, pop up behind some poor sap and end his life. Of course, the battery life on it is questionable: though it recharges when not in use, I still can't walk around invisible at my leisure. I've seen some embarrassing mistakes where spies lesser than myself uncloak in front of a Red Team heavy, only to be blown away five seconds later. Still, it wouldn't hurt if they designed a newer model that have more battery life.

I decloaked once I was outside the building. _Good, no one suspects a thing_. I thought as I walked towards the camp. I ended up seeing that Texas hick I say by the fire earlier, this time, he was with a scout. I bumped into the scout along the way and gave her a look of disgust. _Typical clumsy fuck_. I thought. However, it was then I noticed the scout I had seen was actually a female. _Wait, what's a girl doing on the Red Team? _I thought. I took another look at her. From what I could tell, she looked like she had still a teen, about 18-19 years of age. Her brown hair was tied up neatly and she had a slim, yet fit physique. I laughed to myself. _Girl, either the Red Team is grasping for soldiers, or there's something special about. I have a feeling we will meet again._ I thought.

I overheard the briefing for the Tank Crew. It was then I learned that the Red Team would also have a separate team go up along the canyon ridge to take out our entrenched position. _Sorry, amigos, but I hope you enjoyed your last breakfast before serving guard duty. _I thought. Now don't get me wrong: I am very loyal to the Blue Team and would fight to the death to serve it, but I do realize that saving everyone on my Team from death is impossible. Death is a natural part of war, and if two or three teammates have to die in order to save the rest of them: so be it.

After the briefing, AtlasEXE had spy checked all of the crew members. _Now to wait for the precise moment. _I thought as I followed along discreetly. One of them, the engineer, had split away from the pack to go to the bathroom, apparently. _Perfect..._ I thought as I shifted to following this poor sap.

He entered the bathroom and had immediately headed towards the stall. _Shit, that only makes things harder_. I thought as I positioned myself by the urinal. I had looked back and waited for him to come out. _Damn, man, how long does it take to go to the bathroom? _I thought impatiently. Finally, he emerged and went towards the sink to wash up. I had flushed the urinal, whipped out my butterfly knife and jammed it into the engineer's back. He slumped to the ground and looked up at me. "My apologies." I said to him as I dragged him towards the stall he was in previously, where I then assumed his identity with my disguise. "Sorry for killing you, my friend, but I need to borrow your face." I said as I left a note for anyone who found his body. I then locked the stall door from the inside, cleaned up the scene, and left the bathroom.

As I returned to the tank, I could hear that damn scout whining again. "Cmon, how freakin' long can a guy take a dump?" he blabbered like the whining idiot he was. "Shut up, boy, you've been whining your ass off ever since we got here." One of the other soldiers replied to him. _Whatever, I'll play along with your little game. _I thought as I approached them. "Sorry boys. I had to go to the can somethin' fierce." I said to them, doing my best attempt at a Texan. "See, there he is, now shut up and enjoy the ride." that soldier said to the scout. _Hah, those idiots completely bought it. _I thought as I followed them onto the tank.

Unfortunately for me, that scout wouldn't shut the fuck up for five seconds while the tank was in motion. "Cmon, this is takin' freakin' forever. WHEN THE FREAKIN' HELL ARE WE FREAKIN' GOING TO GET THERE?" The scout whined like a bitch, though all I heard from my end was "Freakin' freakin' FREAKIN'!" as if "Freakin'" was the only word in that scout's vocabulary. _Urge to kill…rising. _I thought. I was just about to take out my butterfly knife and jam it down that scout's throat when I remember my mission. Even if everyone onboard would have shared my sentiments, killing Red Team members would have blown my cover rather quickly.

I found my chance to waste him when he got up. "You know what, I'm going to go stretch my legs. See you later." He said as he walked out. I got up to follow him. "You know, he's got the right idea. I'm going to stretch my legs too." I said as I followed suit with the scout and left the room. Before I did, however, I snuck a nerve gas grenade under my seat and when I was outside of the room, I secretly jammed the lock so they couldn't escape when I detonated it.

Surely enough, the scout was standing around, fidgeting impatiently and pivoting around as he stood. Grinning, I flicked out my butter fly knife and snuck up behind him. "I can't freakin' believe this. Why can't Atlas make a freakin' tank that goes freakin' faster. I mean, by the freakin' time we freakin' get there, Blue Team is going to freakin'-UUUURRRKKKK" I slashed my knife across his throat and then jabbed it into his back to knock him down. The scout was nothing more but a quiet, bloody corpse on the ground. "Sorry about the whole knife across the neck thing, but you see, my sanity takes priority over your life." I said to the corpse. _Come to think of it, I just did Red Team a favor._ I thought as I remember the squad still sitting, unaware that they were about to die. "Goodnight boys." I said as I detonated the grenade, the nerve gas instantly filling the room. Once the poor saps realized what was going on, they went for the door and tried to open, only to find it locked and to be staring at my face as they collapsed one by one. Some succumbed rather quickly, others were more stubborn and took longer to face their inevitable death. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the fallen Red Team soldiers. _They deserved better. At least that whiny fucker's death was quick and painless._ I thought as I walked over to the dead scout and kicked his body angrily one last time.

I could have very well delivered the squad to Dr. Giftspritze as prisoners. I already made a little cage for them and once the tank made it to the Blue Team lab, our men could easily take them prisoner. However, I didn't wish to take any chances. If any of them broke that door down, they could have came up behind me and ended my little raid. Plus, the doctor has enough prisoners for him to get his jollies on with anyways.

Dr. Giftspritze does not understand the point of interrogation. I see it as a useful tool for getting valuable information out of Red Team soldiers; he'll interrogate just about anyone for the hell of it, even if it's some new recruit who wouldn't know an assault rifle from his ass. More than once, I've heard the tortured screams of some poor Red Team sap being at the mercy of Dr. Giftspritze's latest torture device whilst trying to have a quiet smoke. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if the guy was a BDSM nut…

Meanwhile, I was taking out the gunners one by one. With a knife in each of their backs, they went down quickly and quietly. They were too busy firing their machine and the loud sound they made had made it easy for me to sneak up on them. All that was left was the driver and the cannon gunner. I drove my knife into his back like the rest of them, and he fell like the rest of them. However, that kill got the drivers attention. I dropped my disguise and pointed my revolver at him. "Don't bother calling for help, I murdered everyone on board." I said to him. "What do you want from me?" he whimpered. "I want you to keep driving, but be careful not to hit my comrades." I said to him.

I took out a cigarette, lit it and took a puff. My pistol was still pointed at the engineer driving so he wouldn't try anything funny. "Why are you doing this?" he asked. "Well, you see, I was quite impressed with AtlasEXE's work on this tank and I want the Blue Team to enjoy the benefits of this fine piece of machinery as well." I said to him. "No way. You'll never make me betray my own team." He said defiantly. "No, you imbecile, I'm not making you drive it into battle against your own team. I'm stealing it so I can man it with my own crew and then use it against your team." My exasperated expression then quickly turned into a smile. "What irony. The behemoth AtlasEXE built will be used to achieve his downfall by my hands." I grinned. I smiled because this tank was about to become Blue Team property. I laughed because the dumb fuck driving it couldn't do anything about it.

Unfortunately, AtlasEXE had to open his mouth by communicating over the radio. "Rolling Thunder, this is Red Base. You have a spy on board. The engineer in Alpha Squad is a spy! Repeat, THE ALPHA SQUAD ENGINEER IS A SPY!" _Dammit, they're on to me. Looks like they found my little gift to them. _I thought as I drove the pistol into the driver's head. "Do not respond." I said. At first he complied, but AtlasEXE was persistent. "Rolling Thunder, respond!" The driver then grew the balls to attempt to respond to AtlasEXE, but of course, I smoked him before he could even touch the receiver. Unfortunately for me, he landed on the self destruct button. _Dammit, I hoping I could use this tank. Ohh well, at least the threat is over. _I thought.

I didn't stick around to watch the Steamroller tank blow up, but I did hear the explosion. It echoed across the canyon and by the time I heard it, it sounded like a series of cannon blasts in the distance. I took the cigarette I had in my mouth and smothered it into the ground. "Admirable effort Red Team, but unfortunately, I gained the upper hand." I said as I walked away.

-

"And that is how it happened." Gustavo finished speaking into his audio diary. After his raid on the Steamroller Tank, he had spoken of his experience into his audio diary. This was a common tradition for him after his operations, as it allowed him to look back fondly on his past encounters with the Red Team. "Are you done with zat damn audio diary." Dr. Giftspritze yelled at him. Gustavo sighed. "Yes. You can wait 10 minutes for me to have my personal little rituals." He said back. "Good."

Dr. Giftspritze led Gustavo to his office. "I want to know one thing: WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE?" he yelled. "Well, when I retire from the Blue Team, I going to take entries from my audio diary and use them to publish a book for aspiring Blue Team spies." Gustavo said, taking a cigarette from his coat pocket. "SCHWEINHUND! NOT ZE AUDIO DIARY, YOU SMARTASS, ZE DAMN STEAMROLLER TANK! WHY IS IT BLOWN UP." Giftspritze was furious. Gustavo lit his cigarette and chuckled. "Well, doctor, I was driving it back when I got lazy and decided to blow it up instead, just so I could see some pretty fireworks."

If it was anyone else, Giftspritze would have either killed him or used him as a guinea pig for his next experiment. He was not the man to talk back to, and most of his underlings knew that. Gustavo, however, couldn't care less. The only reason he helped Giftspritze was due to the fact that they were on the same team. He knew Giftspritze only acted high and mighty due to his inventions and only intimidated his men due to his dominate personality. Once, he had said to himself. "If he wasn't a Blue Team member, I would have slit his throat in his sleep long ago."

"ACH! I NEEDED ZAT TANK!" he yelled. "Look on the bright side, at least it's not a threat anymore." Gustavo responded. "THAT STILL DOESN'T FIX MEIN TANK, YOU IDIOT!" Giftspritze yelled. "Technically it was their tank, doctor." He replied "WHATEVER. FROM NOW ON, FAILURE IST VERBOTEN!" Giftspritze yelled as he banged his desk. Gustavo calmly smoked his cigarette. "AND STOP SMOKING THAT DAMN CIGARETTE. IT'S GOING TO KILL YOU ONE OF THESE DAYS!"

"Doctor, life is short. It is even shorter on the battlefield, where the tiniest mistake can mean your death. I have seen many things, and many times, a bullet, explosion, crazed scout with a baseball bat, or something else would come at me and attempt to take my life. However, all of failed. What makes you think I'm going to expire due to this cigarette." Giftspritze just stared at him. "ARE YOU BLIND. ZE DAMN THING IST A HEALTH RISK!" he yelled. "I didn't know you were so concerned with my health." Gustavo responded. Giftspritze couldn't think of a retort. "Maybe this cigarette will be the end of me. Maybe. But then again, I'd rather not wait longer for the inevitable to happen."

"But anyways, everything seems to be fine here, so I'll offer my assistance to a front that actually needs me. I'm sick of babysitting your damn lab." Gustavo said. "WHAT? YOU WILL STAY HERE AND GUARD ZE LAB!" Giftspritze responded. "Well, you could do the smart thing and relocate. After all, Red Team is not going to give up on attacking this place. Eventually, they will wear you down and take over this base. I'd suggest you take your stuff, move it someplace else and blow this trash heap up." Giftspritze was having none of it. "NO, FOOL. WE STAY HERE." An evil grin then formed on his face. "Once I perfect The Ultimate Übercharge, these mere skirmishes will be meaningless. With an invincible army, I will roll over all of the Red Team that dare oppose me, storm the Red Stronghold and then wield the Red Flag. THEN ULTIMATE POWER WILL BE MINE! MWA HA HA HA HAAA." Gustavo couldn't help but interrupt his mad laugh. "Are you still hung up on that theory of yours that the Red Flag is some kind of ancient artifact that contains unlimited power?" he sighed. "IT'S NOT A THEORY. IT'S A FACT! WITH BOTH FLAGS IN MY POSSESION…JUST THINK OF IT!" he replied defensively. "Whatever, I'll defend your base, just spare me any more of your crackpot theories." Gustavo sighed. "Very well, but remember: this ist your last chance." Giftspritze said sternly. "Yeah yeah yeah." Gustavo said in an unconcerned tone as he turned his back on the doctor and left his office.

_You're a sinister man, Dr. Giftspritze. Your inventions do wonders for the Blue Team, I'll admit, but you seem so fixated that the Flag is some kind of artifact of power. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but don't think I won't keep my eye on you…_


	7. The Battle of Dustbowl

Chapter 7: The Battle of Dustbowl

_Dear Mom,_

_How is everything at home? I'm writing to let you know that I'm still alive and I think about you every night while I'm out here. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what I've been doing or what I'm up to should this message fall into the wrong hands, though I can tell you I am posted at the Dustbowl Front. During the day, it's a scorching inferno, but after my two weeks at boot camp, I'm pretty much used to hot weather. Also, I finally found a man that drinks more than Uncle Daniel: he's a demoman who seems to always have a bottle of something in his hand everytime I see him. However, believe it or not, he saved my life today. Anyways, I miss you and I hope that I will come home to see you again._

_Love,_

_Kristel_

_P.S.: Tell Kerry I said hi and that I love her._

She put down the pen and neatly folded the letter. She was seated outside of Razor's tent, where he was chewing out AtlasEXE

"Atlas, Atlas, Atlas…"

AtlasEXE was in shame. The destruction of the Steamroller Tank had angered Razor enough to yank AtlasEXE into his tent and demand an explanation. "Not I'm not angry. All I want to know is why the Steamroller Tank was destroyed so easily." AtlasEXE remained silent. "Now the Steamroller Tank was supposed to be the deciding factor in this little stalemate. It was supposed to be the piece that finally gets us into that Blue Team lab. Instead, a spy sneaks in RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE AND BLOWS THE DAMN THING UP! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?" he was demanding answers.

AtlasEXE finally spoke. "I assure you, I spy checked EVERYONE. I made triple sure to check every person. Hell, I even did it twice just to be sure. No one registered." "Now, I believe when you say you spy checked everyone. I know you aren't so stupid as to neglect such an important task. However, the fact of the matter is a spy still managed to sneak on board and destroy the tank. Now either your device is defective, the spy managed to invent some method of circumventing it, or you were SIMPLY CARELESS AFTER THE SPY CHECK!" Razor yelled. "What do you mean 'careless'?" AtlasEXE wondered.

"Well, sometime in-between your spy check and boarding the tank, Billy from Alpha Squad decided to use the restroom. Now that would give a good spy ample time to kill him, assume his identity and sneak onboard with the rest of the squad, which is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED! Listen, anytime a person leaves your sight after being spy checked, SPY CHECK HIM AGAIN UPON HIS RETURN! IT TAKES LESS THAN 2 BLOODY SECONDS!"

"It wasn't my fault. It was that damn Gustavo the Chameleon." AtlasEXE pleaded. "What a shame. If you had followed procedure, you could have easily caught him, but you didn't. I'm through with you, Atlas, get the fuck out of here." Razor said in a disgusted tone. "But, Razor…" "I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT, YA WANKER! NOOOWWW!" Razor bellowed. "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT." AtlasEXE said as he stumbled out of the tent.

When he came out of the tent and walked away, Kristel joined him. "You okay, Atlas? Razor sounded rather mad in there." She asked, worried. "I'm fine. It's not the first time he's yelled at me for letting that bloke Gustavo sneak in and do somethin' like that. He'll be in good spirits tomorrow." He reassured her. "Who's Gustavo?" she wondered.

"Ahh yes, Gustavo the Chameleon. I should have told you about him sooner. He's a Blue Team Spy, and a slippery one at that. Everyone we try to make something, that guy's two steps ahead of us and blows the damn thing to smithereens before we can even figure out what's going on. Another thing is: if you know he's lurking, you better watch your back, mate. That innocuous looking Red Team behind you could very well be him and the next thing you know, there's a knife in your back and you're nothing more than a bloody corpse on the ground."

AtlasEXE's words caused Kristel to shudder. _Could that happen to me. That man could stab me in the back at any time and I couldn't do a thing about it. _AtlasEXE laughed. "Don't worry, my girl. You're pretty damn fast, he shouldn't able to keep up with you. Just do what you do and you'll be fine." He slapped her on the back. "Well, I guess. By the way, have you ever seen him?" she asked. "Ohh yeah, I've seen the fellow. Bit of a odd fashion sense for a man. He wears a blue suit, but he also wears a blue baklava over his face. By the time I ever have the chance to point my gun at him, he disappears like that." He snapped his fingers. "Huh?" Kristel wondered. "He uses some sort of cloaking device to hide from us. Bloody thing renders him completely invincible." AtlasEXE replied. "But don't our spies use the same thing." she asked. "Ohh yeah, we have the cloaking technology, but the thing is: he knows how to use it well." he replied.

Just then, the two heard a loud belch erupt from a tent. "DAMMIT, CYCLOPS, WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS!" AtlasEXE yelled at him. "Hey, what's your problem, boyo?" Cyclops said, emerging from the tent with a liquor bottle in each hand. "Better out than in, ehhh?" he added, nudging Kristel. "Really, Cyclops, in front of her?" AtlasEXE scolded. "It's alright, really." she said modestly, resting her hand on the back of her head. AtlasEXE noted the two bottle Cyclops was holding. "Cyclops, you're the only man I know that dual wields liquor bottles." he said. "Ain't it lovely, boyo. I got two different bottles that I take alternating drinks from. I get twice the flavor, I get twice as drunk and I have twice the fun." Cyclops let out a hearty laugh. _Not to mention you kill twice as many brain cells._ Kristel thought.

Dinner later that night consisted of MREs, each of which contained a chicken breast, corn and a slice of bread. The officers Sidewinder, AtlasEXE and Razor were in a conference, planning their next move on the Blue Team lab. Kristel sat next to Cyclops, taking small bites of her chicken while Cyclops was taking large swigs of whiskey. "Hey Kristel, wanna try a sip of me bottle." he said, offering a sip. "Err, no thanks." she says, holding her palms up. "Hey I'd like a sip." said a soldier sitting across from them. "GIT YOUR OWN, YA BLOODY PONCE!" he roared at him, then turned back to Kristel. "Ya sure you don't want to try it." he asked. "No, I'm good." she said. "Not even a little baby sip. It won't even faze ya." he continued. "Well, alright, just a little." she said as she took the bottle. She gingerly took a small sip, then coughed and gave the bottle back to Cyclops, spitting against the bitter taste. _Ick! How does he drink this stuff? _She wondered, placing a huge bite of chicken in her mouth to get the taste out. "Heh heh heh, I don't blame ya. It's an acquired taste." Cyclops laughed and took another swig.

Five minutes later, AtlasEXE approached Kristel. "Oi, Kristel. Razor needs to see you for a sec." he said. _Huh, am I in trouble or something. _She thought, a nervous look creeping on her face as she got up to follow him.

He lead her the the briefing tent. Razor was standing by another map, Sidewinder was seated by the table, sitting in quiet thought. "Ahh yes, have a seat, Ms. Wright." Razor instructed. Kristel obeyed.

"Am I in trouble." she asked. "What? No, not at all, I'm just going over our next attack plan with you." he smiled, reassuring her. "Okay, but why just me?" she asked. "Well, you are the most important person in our next assault and I need to address you personally." he said.

"Before I begin, let me outline to you the situation. We have uncovered an old mining town that connects to a back door in the Blue Team labs. Now security around there is very light, but there are three gates that lock the place down. However, hacking those gates should be easy. However, once the gates are hacked, Dr. Giftspritze will no doubt be alerted and send a team of Blue Team soldiers to intercept you. They usual consist of engineers to build sentry guns, demomen to keep you pinned back by continuously lobbing grenades as well as some soldiers and heavies."

"You will be leading a team of men to capture control points set up by the Blue Team that serves as beacons for them to send soldiers into. Now there are three sectors, each with two control points. If you take the two control points, the sector will no longer belong to them and they will have to fall, allowing us to send in reinforcements at that point. The final control point will be in a old rocket bay at the back of the lab. Once you take that point, you will be able to storm the base. At that point, you'll enter the base and grab the Übercharge plans."

His tone then became more serious as he stared directly into Kristel's eyes. "Now I understand that Dr. Giftspritze was responsible for killing your father. Though I sympathize with your plight, I must remind you to not let personal vendettas get in the way of your mission. Your top priority is to get your hands on the Übercharge blueprints. Then, if you have a shot at him, take it. Any questions?"

"Yes, will you be coming?" she asked. "Yes, I will be supporting you. However, you will be taking the main leadership role during the mission. I want to see what you are capable of, understand?" he asked. "Yes, sir!" she said. "Also, Atlas and Sidewinder will be going along as well to provide support, building turrets to hold chokepoints, building dispensers to provide ammo and health in the field." he added. "Now, do you think he can handle this?" he asked.

_Wow, barely two days on the Red Team and already, I'm responsible for leading the assault on a Blue Team lab, but can I really do this. Why does Razor have so much confidence in me? I know how to point a gun the right way and I'm fast on my feet, but I'm not an expert at military strategy._..

All of the sudden, she blurted. "Yes sir, I can do this sir!" Razor smiled. "Heh heh heh, just like your father, always willin' to take charge. Alright, the men are tired today, so we'll brief them tomorrow. You're dismissed." he said. AtlasEXE then gave her a book on military strategy. "Here, in case you need a hand, take this book, this should give you a little boost in your thinking." he said. "Thanks." she replied.

Kristel walked out the tent half honored and half nervous. Though she felt honored that Razor would ask her to lead an assault, she was still nervous about whether she actually could do it. Her anxiety grew after she had suddenly told him "Yes sir." without fully thinking it through.

She went back to her tent to reflect. _Why did I suddenly just blurt that out? Did I simply not want to disappoint him? Now that I did accept his challenge, there is no turning back. What if I fail. Will I get chewed out like Atlas? Or worse: will I get discharged from the Red Team and sent home?_

She worried on for a couple of hours. However, a new surge of confidence then hit her. _Cmon, Kristel, you whiny bitch. You're beating yourself up too much. With that kind of attitude, you'll fail for sure. Of course you can do this. Just you watch. You'll show Razor what Kristel Wright is capable of tomorrow! _She smiled to herself.

She then shifted her thoughts to what sort of men she'll need. She had the book on military strategy AtlasEXE gave to her oppened. _Alright, I'm a scout. I've already got a sniper and two engineers going along with me. Now I'll probably bring along my own demoman to clear any sticky mines that get in the way. Not to mention he'd be handy for clearing out engineer garrisons without endangering my team. I'd also probably want a heavy...no, skip the heavy. Though some soldiers are a must. Ohh, and I'll want a medic too. No wait...yeah I want the medic. Maybe I bring the heavy, too... _She kept thinking until her eyes shut and she drifted off to sleep.

She awoke the next day and look outside of the tent. The sun was almost up over the canyon. Not a single cloud was in the sky. She had changed into her uniform and grabbed her scattergun. "No turning back, Kristel. You will either be a hero or a total failure by the end of the day." she said as she left for the briefing tent.

Razor was already there, along with Sidewinder. "Mornin' Kristel." Sidewinder greeted her as she walked into the tent. She turned her attention to Razor. "Alright Razor, I've decided what kind of men we'll need." she said to him. "Oh?" he said to her. "Well, I'm willing to bet there will be some engineers around, so I'm going to recruit Cyclops onto our team. I will also need two soldiers, a medic and a spy." she said to him. "Sorry, Kristel, we lost our last spy." Razor replied. "Very well, replace that spy with another soldier then." she said without skipping a beat.

AtlasEXE ran into the tent. "Sorry mates, I hope I'm not late, I had to, er..." he was cut off. "You're not late, Atlas, we haven't even started yet." Razor said to him. "Well now that you're here, round up Cyclops, three soldiers and a medic." he added. "Yes sir." AtlasEXE replied.

"Alright, listen up." Kristel said to the men who had walked in and taken a seat. "We've found a back door into the Blue Team lab: it's an old mining town that has light security at best. However, the place is sealed off right now. Now we've figured out how to hack the gates open, so they won't be expected us to come in."

She then explained to them about the control points as well as how they worked. "Ohh yeah one more thing: we got to be quick. Once Giftspritze knows we are moving in, he will no doubt call for reinforcement to overwhelm us. Good luck." she said to the team._ Ŝame to you Kristel. You'll need it today. _She thought to herself.

Dr. Giftspritze was in his office, calmly sipping a cup of tea whilst sitting back in his leather chair. "Sometime, I wonder." he said out loud to himself. "When will those Red Team schweinhunden learn to just surrender. It's only going to be more painful in the end if they continue fighting when they know I will own both their flag and ours. Is there truly one among them that could achieve my downfall." he laughed.

Suddenly, a message came on over his radio. "Doctor, we've got a problem. The outer entrance of the mining town is being hacked. I think the Red Team is trying to get in through there." he said. Dr. Giftspritze sighed. "Send in our army to crush them. When they come out that door, blow them to smithereens." he said flatly. "Sir, all of our forces are occupied trying to fix up our outpost in the canyon." the radio responded. "Ach! Alert whatever forces we do have in the area that there will be some Red Team intruders coming in. I'll contact Blue Command to send reinforcements in." he said. "Yes sir."

The mining town was split into three sectors. On one end of the first sector was a base that housed Blue Team members currently posted there. The base's intercom system went off to alert them. "ATTENTION! ATTENTION! WE HAVE INTRUDERS HACKING OPEN THE GATES TO SECTOR ONE! ALL UNITS REPORT TO THE GATES, SET UP DEFENSES, AND TERMINATE THE INTRUDERS!" A group of men, which consisted off three engineers, two demomen, two soldiers, a medic and a heavy left the base.

On the other side of sector one lied a small cave with three exits, each one blocked by a gate. AtlasEXE, however, was hacking open the gates. "Sixty seconds." he yelled. Kristel looked out and ran between each of the gates. The middle gate ran down a canyon like passage that led up to passages on the far side. On the right of ridge was a small hut closer to the Red Team and on the left was a building, which housed the first control point. In ten seconds, Blue Team men poured out of the passages. Two of the engineers ran inside of the building and constructed sentry guns inside. Another person set up a sentry on the far side. The demomen posted themselves near each of the ridge entrances.

"Thirty seconds!" AtlasEXE spoke out. Razor spotted a heavy on the far side. "Once that gate opens, I'm going to plant one in that Heavy's eyes. Then I'll take down the sentry to make things easier for you guys." he said, aiming his sniper rifle. "Alright, we'll need someone to help take out these demomen. Once the gates open, they'll be spamming grenades in here left and right." Kristel said to her squad. "I'll blow up the guy on the left!" Cyclops yelled. "Alright, we'll send a soldier and medic combo up the right to deal with the right side's demoman. Razor, give me cover while I and another soldier go up the middle, alright." she added. "No problem." Razor replied, still aiming.

"TEN SECONDS!" AtlasEXE yelled. Kristel stared down the middle. It was the hundred meter sprint all over again, except this time she had faster shoes, people were shooting at her and the only thing she was racing against was time. If she wasn't able to take control of all six points before Giftspritze's reinforcements arrived, there was no doubt that she would never be able to make it inside the base. "FIVE! FOUR!" Kristel got ready to run, and Razor held his breath. "THREE! TWO!" Razor began to squeeze the trigger. "ONE! GO! GO! GOOOO!"

The gates open, and explosions and gunfire immediately rang out. Razor's shot fired off and before the Blue heavy could even fire off a single shot, he had a bullet place in between his eyes. Cyclops' grenades poured out to meet the enemy demoman lobbing his own grenades. The soldier on the right, unfortunately, was taken out by the grenades lobbed by the rightmost demoman.

As Kristel sprinted, she looked at the sentry gun looming in the distance. Once she got in range, it would start shooting her down where she stood. However, a rocket shot from behind her and over her, heading for the turret and colliding with it. The turret still stood, but smokes started appearing from. Luckily for her, Razor had a shot lined up with the turret and fired, taking it out for good.

The demoman on the right then turns his attention to Kristel. He lobbed grenades into the trench she ran down. Once she saw the grenades bounce in front of her, she jump to avoid him. She took a second jump while in midair to avoid the rocket that was fired at her feet. She fired her scattergun off to the side to try and pin the soldier that was shooting rockets at her down.

This lapse in attention gave AtlasEXE and the medic a golden opportunity to sneak up on the demoman. AtlasEXE whipped out his Wrench and the medic whipped out his bone saw. In a combined rush, the two ran up to the demoman and took him out from behind. "How do you like that?" he yelled at the demoman's corpse. "GET DOWN!" the medic yelled. A rocket soared towards the two, giving them barely enough time to dive out of the way.

Cyclops eventually overtook the demoman on the left and began his run down the left ridge, followed by Sidewinder. Kristel made it to the end of the trench and saw the engineer under a high up train track leading into the building, attempting to build a sentry. She aimed her Scattergun and fired at the engineer. He whipped out his own shotgun and fired back, however, Kristel's scattergun eventually overtook him. She then destroyed the sentry by beating it to death with her baseball bat.

"CHECK THIS SHIT OUT." Kristel heard the soldier say from the trench, who had his rocket launcher aimed at the ground. He fired at the ground and jumped. The blast propelled him up from the trench and onto the left ridge in front of Cyclops and Sidewinder. _The fuck? Did he just do that? _She thought, astonished. The sheer oddity of it all: not only did the soldier attempt to blow up himself, but he did it so he could boost himself up to a higher place. She immediately remembered her drill instructor on her first day of training. She remembered a comment about the only other people able to scale the same heights she could were a suicidal soldier and a demoman with a sticky bomb. She looked over at Cyclops. _Don't get any ideas, I need you in one piece..._ she thought.

The Soldier that rocket jumped went inside of the building. However, two sentry guns set up inside immediately fired bullets and rifles at him. Piercing through his skin and painting the room a dark shade of red. Kristel put her back up to the door on her side leading him. "DON'T GO IN!" she yelled. "Don't have to tell me twice." Sidewinder. "Cyclops, lob some grenades in." She yelled. "Alright, Lassie!" he replied and fired grenades inside. The engineers inside ran away from their turrets and tried running out of the base through the train tracks leading to a cave up above. Kristel was able to tag one of them with her scattergun, however the other one got away. The soldiers inside, however stood their ground, firing rockets out at Cyclops and Kristel. Cyclops, however, stayed off to the side and banked grenades off of the wall, allowing them to kill one of the soldiers.

The other one ran and knocked Kristel down by hitting her with his Rocket Laucher. She saw the Rocket Launcher pointed at her, ready to blow her up. A shotgun gun then sailed over her head and struck the soldier, taking him. "Are you okay?" AtlasEXE ran over to her, picking her up off the ground. "Yeah, I'm alright, just a slight bruise though." she said, feeling wobbly and clutching her chest. The medic took out his medic gun and fired a beam of red energy into her. The energy was a strange formula that was previously developed by Dr. Giftspritze, but was stolen and used for Red Team purposes. Her wounds had not only felt like new, but she felt new found energy within her, almost like a burst of adrenaline. "Thanks, doctor." she said to him.

Cyclops had just finished eliminating the two sentries planting inside. With no engineers to guard they, they were easy prey for his sticky bombs. Kristel, Sidewinder, AtlasEXE, and the medic then joined him to take control of the point. "Well, that was easy." AtlasEXE exclaimed. Razor came up from the left ridge to join them. "Alright. Atlas, Sidewinder, place some teleporters here. They will be able to provide a link back to base and allow us to send reinforcements to the front immediately." he said to the two. "Yes sir." they both replied and constructed teleporters.

Once they were finished, two soldiers were beamed in to replace the dead ones. "Alright, lets go." Kristel said to the squad and led them through the cave. She noted the path being a set of train tracks as well as a mine cart at the end of the path. However, she led them left at the end, looking into a field.

An open shack was on the far side of the field, which housed the second control point. The Blue base was not too far to the right. The only thing there was an engineer trying to set up a turret. "Take him out." Kristel said to one of the soldiers. "Roger that. One control point coming right." he said as he ran across the field, firing his rocket launcher. The engineer dived and was able to survive the rocket, however his turret fell.

A group of five Blue soldiers then emerged from the right, all firing their rocket launchers at the Red Soldier crossing the field. The multitude of explosions caught up with the slower moving soldier and killed him where he was. Once the soldiers made it to his body, they directed their attention towards the cave containing the remainder of Kristel's squad. "FALL BACK!" she yelled, firing her scattergun for cover fire. "You two, search the cave. The rest of you, spread out among here, we can't let them take the control point." One of the Blue Soldiers said.

The Blue soldiers searched the cave. They followed the trail of train tracks all the way out to control point one. Unfortunately for them, AtlasEXE and Sidewinder already had turrets set up ready to blow them away. Before they could react, the turrets made quick work of the scouting soldiers. "Alright, they've got plenty of protection around the base. There are at least three soldiers and an engineer. Possibly a medic too." Razor said to the squad. "Hmm, there's a path along those upper tracks I saw an engineer escape along earlier. If I'm thinking things correctly, we can use that path to sneak into the point." Kristel replied. "Alright, Cyclops, Serial, you are with me." she said, pointing to Cyclops and the medic. "The rest of you go back through the caves, but proceed with caution." she added.

Serial and Cyclops followed Kristel inside of the upper cave. "Hmm, I wonder what they were mining for in here." Serial wondered. "Maybe it was liquor." Cyclops suggested. "Oh please, you don't mine for liquor, you idiot." he responded irritably. "Well, they should have. Imagine: pickin' away at the earth with your pickax. All of the sudden, whiskey comes bubblin' up from the ground and spurts all over the place. That's my kind of gold right there." Cyclops said. "Do you think about anything other than getting drunk off your ass all the time." Serial scolded. "Enough, let's keep moving." Kristel said to the two.

They stopped at an opening. Kristel peeked around the corner and saw a soldier posted there. "Lob some sticky grenades over." Kristel signalled to Cyclops. "'EY, BOYO! I'VE GOT A PRESENT FOR YA!" Cyclops yelled as he lobbed his sticky grenades at the soldier's feet. Before he could react, he detonated them as the third one landed, blowing him up. This alerted the other soldiers, causing them to fire rockets on Cyclops' position.

The squad from the other cave poured out into the field. Rockets and bullets filled the air and held the soldiers back. However, more soldiers and a couple of heavies poured out from the base to meet the Red squad. "TAKE 'EM OUT" AtlasEXE yelled to the soldiers in his squad. "I'll cover ya, take the control point." Cyclops yelled, happily lobbing grenades into the Blue squad exiting the base.

Kristel and Serial exited from the gate leading to where the soldier stood and ran downstairs to the shack, avoiding the Blue Soldiers' rockets and the Blue heavies' bullets as they went. Serial gave Kristel a blast of adrenaline through his medic gun as they descended towards the control point. A sentry gun with an engineer behind it was waiting for the two at the bottom. Serial whipped out a flechette gun specially fitted to fire syringes and aimed at the engineer. He fired off a burst of syringes and struck the engineer in the face, causing him to fall. Kristel dove over the sentry gun and fired her scattergun at it. The sentry blew up, but not before harming Serial. "Are you okay?" Kristel said to him. "Go on without me. Get the control point!" he said to her, clutching his wounds. She knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not leaving you behind. Now let's go." She lifted the medic up and supported him with her shoulder. She lead him over to the control point and place him down onto it.

"Oh no you don't" a Blue Soldier fired a rocket at the two, but missed. Razor's shot then rang out from the cave and struck the threatening soldier in the head, killing him and allowing Kristel and the wounded Serial to take control of the final point. "WE'VE LOST SECTOR ONE! FALL BACK!" The Blue Soldier yelled. The Red squad had completely filled the center field and chased down the retreating soldiers and heavies. They did not put up a fight as the Red Team took them out one by one.

Razor then approached Kristel. "So far, so good. What are the casualties." he said to her. "We've lost at least four soldiers. Plus Serial here is injured." She said to him. "Atlas! Sidewinder! Set up teleporters. We'll get another medic in here and have him patched up in no time."

----

Giftspritze watched a set of monitors, still sipping tea. "Sir, they've taken control of sector one." a voice over his radio responded. "I can see zat, I am not blind, dummkopf." he replied. "Send a team to guard sector two. I want those Red motherfuckers DEAD!" he added. "Yes sir." the radio responded. He sat back. _Whoever is spearheading this assault, you've got guts. Lets see if you've got what it takes to defeat Dr. Manfred Giftspritze..._ he thought.

----

On the far side of sector two, a base similar to the first layed, a control point was next to it on a wooden platform. "ATTENTION! SECTOR TWO!" the intercom in the base yelled out. "SECTOR ONE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED. MOVE OUT AND DEFEND SECTOR TWO. DO NOT LET THE RED TEAM THROUGH" it added and clicked off.

The Blue Team was already setting up defenses in sector two when they heard that sector one was under attack, however, when the alarm went off, an additional team was dispatched, consisting of three soldiers, two demomen, two medics, a heavy and a pyro.

"Sixty seconds 'til I get the second gate open." AtlasEXE said to the squad. Kristel surveyed the surroundings through the gate. There was a broken down shack on the right and a larger wooden house on the left, with a bunker out front. Blue Team engineers had already set up turrets inside, and an additional team was already flooding the area to aid the engineers. Her team was in a ditch where the Blue demomen could easily roll grenades down the hill and blow up her forces.

Fortunately for her, AtlasEXE and Sidewinder's teleportation grid was already online inside the former Blue Team base in sector one. Soldiers, Medics, and Heavies were beamed in to aid the fight. Though she was happy for the reinforcements, at the same time, she knew that they would be walking into a death trap. The spot in front of the gates where the soldiers and heavies stood with their rocket launcher and mini guns ready would be lit up with explosives within a millisecond of the gates opening.

"Kristel, I think I found an alternate passage." Razor signaled her to an opening with a gate on it. "They'll be concentrating their fire on those two gates over there. Now this one has a bit of an indoor path, so they won't be able to easily lob grenades into the cave from here." he said. "Cyclops, Serial, come over here." Kristel signalled the Red demoman and medic over. "Serial, how are your wounds." she said to the medic. "A lot better. Another medic came in and healed me right now. I don't know what we'd do without these medic guns." he said. "Yeh, just wait until they start pumping invincibility into us!" Cyclops nudged him.

"Thirty seconds!" AtlasEXE yelled out. "Alright, you two come with me and Razor. While the Blue Team is distracted with the main gates, we'll sneak around into that house on the left. If I'm correct, then the first control point is on the other side of that building." she said to them. "What of the guys over there." Serial asked, pointing to the soldiers and heavies ready to go. "We've called in more medics. Hopefully, they will be able to keep them alive." she said. _Cmon, Kristel, it's alright. You're in just as much danger as they are. _She thought to herself.

"TEN SECONDS!" AtlasEXE yelled. "Alright, Red Team, get ready to go!" Kristel yelled to the others. "FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! GO GO GOOOO!"

The two Blue demomen immediately began launching grenades into the cave. Rockets from both teams entered and exit the caves. Red Team soldiers collapsed from the impact of the enemy rockets colliding with them and exploding. A Red medic and heavy combo emerged from the cave and began littering the area with bullets. "WHA HA HA HA HA HAAAA!" the heavy laughed as he filled the bunker on the left with bullets. The engineer inside stood fast, keeping his turret in shape which it fired at the giant man. Another turret was set up on the shack on the roof. The combined forces of the two overpowered the heavy weapons guy and made him crash to the earth. Blood from the man poured out and painted the surrounding sand red as the bullets pierced his skin.

Razor took aim at the roof of the shack. An engineer sat up there, repairing his turrets as Red Team rockets came to threaten it. "That engineering degree of yours isn't going to do much for ya down in hell..." he muttered under his breath as he lined up the red dot on his sniper rifle with the engineer's head. He was too busy concentration on his turret to even notice the red dot connecting with the side of his face. The bullet fired out of Razor's rifle and colliding with the red dot on the engineer's face, knocking him off the down and down to the ground.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll take care of that turret. I meet up with you in a bit." he signalled to the three. Kristel, Cyclops and Serial snuck along the side and to a stack of boxes behind on the side of the large building. The three climbed the box and saw the control point at the top. A soldier was posted on top, however, his back was turned and was concentrated with sending rockets towards the advancing Red Team forces.

Cyclops smashed a liquor bottle on the side of the building. "This one's mine." he grinned. "Wait, Cyclops!" Kristel said, but he was already on top of the platform with the control point. The explosions and gunfire from the battlefield masked the sound of Cyclops smashing his bottle, so the soldier still didn't notice him. "YAAAAAA!" Cyclops screamed and charged at the soldier. He turned around surprised as Cyclops jabbed the broken end of his liquor bottle into the soldier's neck. He knocked away the soldier's rocket launcher and jabbed the bottle into him until he was dead. "Heh heh, ME BOTTLE IS GRUMPY!" he yelled at the corpse.

Kristel and Serial climbed up to join him when they saw a man in a blue fire proof suit, and gas mask come out of the building, wielding a flamethrower. "CYCLOPS, LOOK OUT!" Kristel yelled. Cyclops turned around, and the Blue pyro sent a stream of fire at Cyclops, engulfing him. "FIRE! FIIIIIRE!" he yelled as he ran off the building. The pyro laughed maniacally and lifted his flamethrower in the air triumphantly, giving off a battle cry. "AH HA HA HA HA HAAA!" the pyro laughed in a muffled voice through his gas mask. A bat then connected with the pyro's face, knocking him down. "Take that!" Kristel yelled at him. The pyro angrily took his shotgun out and fired from the ground. Kristel dived out of the way of the blast, which gave the pyro enough time to get up, grab his flamethrower and back Kristel into a corner with a jet of flames.

Just then, a bullets came piercing through the front of the pyro's gas mask. He landed on his knees and then fell to the ground, dropping his flamethrower. "WAVE GOODBYE TO YA HEAD, WANKA." a familiar voice yelled. Kristel got us and saw Razor from down below, waving. "Thanks. Now come up here and help me take this control point." she yelled to him.

Razor climbed up to join her, along with Serial. Cyclops then emerged from the building where the pyro came from, with third degree burns all over him. "Heal me up, doctor." he said, twitching. While Razor and Kristel covered the point, Serial took out his medic gun and sent a blast of healing energy into Cyclops, healing the burns in seconds. "Thanks doc." he said to him. "No problem. I still can't believe that this is a Giftspritze invention though." Serial mused. "He creates devices to save lives, but yet, he is more concerned with ending them. Why is that."

He was interrupted when two heavies loomed in the distance, shooting mini gun rounds at them. "GET DOWN!" Kristel yelled. Cyclops lobbed grenades to deter them, however, they still kept moving. The engineer from inside the building came up, shotgun in hand. Razor spotted him, ducked down and took out his MP5K. He fired a burst at the engineer, which caused him to retreat behind the wall. He then took his pistol and pointing it around the corner, blindly firing at Razor. He poked back around, and aimed the pistol at Razor, he got off a couple of shots, one hitting his leg, but was silenced by a blast from Kristel's scattergun.

"We've captured the point." Serial yelled as the Blue glow from the control point changed to red. The Red Team forces then flooded the area chasing off the Blue forces falling back to the second control point through another cave. Slowly, the sounds of gunfire and explosions came to a halt.

"Alright, REGROUP!" Kristel yelled to the Red Squad. AtlasEXE and Sidewinder followed behind them. "Alright men, we're halfway there. You two, set up some teleporters in that hut over there." She said to the two engineers, pointing out a small hut in front of the cave entrances. "The rest of you, follow me, we have to see what is on the other side of those caves."

Another house lied on the other side of the building. Across a path underneath the building was a wooden platform where Kristel spotted the second control point. On the platform, however, was a sentry gun, an engineer and a pyro. She then spotted an opening on the far right of the building, covered by a gated door. "I'll be right back." Kristel said to Razor as she dashed down a train track path to the right.

At the end of the path was the gated door. She looked through it and saw a wooden archway above the entrances. A sentry turret was posted above, with a grinning engineer guarding it. She ran back to the Red Squad. "There's a sentry gun posted above the entrances here." She said, pointed to a location above the entrances. "If we run out, It will mow us down." she said. She then signaled a soldier. "Eagle, you see that path down there? Take Serial with you and go down and destroy that turret. Once you do so, signal us, and then we'll move in." she said to him. "Yes, ma'am." the soldier said as they ran down the path.

----

"I want an update. Why haven't the Red Forces been eradicated yet?" Giftspritze yelled into a radio. "They've taken control of control point one in sector two." the radio responded. "DUMMKOPF! AT THIS RATE, THEY'LL CONTROL THE ENTIRE BASE WITHIN' HOURS!" he yelled. "Calm down, sir! We've got several sentry guns covered control point two, plus we've got a nasty surprise hidden for them...wait...WE'VE LOST THE SENTRY ABOVE THE DOOR! RED TEAM FORCES ARE MOVING IN!" the radio yelled. "YOU BETTER TAKE THEM OUT, OR I WILL PERSONALLY COME DOWN THERE AND INJECT A VIRUS INTO YOUR EYE SOCKETS! YOU UNDERSTAND!" he yelled. "Yes sir!"

----

"SCREAMIN' EAGLES!" Eagle yelled as he fired a fury of rockets at the concealed sentry turret. Both the turret and the engineer fell from the explosions. "MOVE IN!" Kristel yelled. The gunfired and explosions resumed. Razor poked around the corner and fired a sniper round at the pyro on the other hide. He missed, but caused him to retreat. The Red squad entered from all entrances and fired at the Blue forces. Soldiers ran down the middle firing their rockets at the wooden platform. They were greeted by grenades bouncing in front of them from hidden demomen. Still, they pressed on, only to stopped when they collided with the grenades.

Cyclops flanked left and fired grenades over at the defending Blue Team forces. He ran behind a giant stone slab, peeked around a saw two sentries on the far end being guarded by engineers and the pyro Razor scared off. Two Blue soldiers were also down there was as well as two demomen posted on either side of the middle pathway. A sentry was posted on a balcony above the demoman on the left.

He laughed at the Blue Team forces from behind the rock. "LOOK AT YA FINE DANDIES! PRANCING ABOUT WITH YOUR HEADS FULL OF EYEBALLS!" he mocked. This struck a nerve with one of the Blue engineers on the far side. "Want to come out and say that to my face, buddy?" he yelled. Cyclops responded by launching grenades out. "Yeah, didn't think so. You two, show that cocky son of a bitch who's boss." he said to the two posted soldiers. "Negative, stay there. It's probably a trick to draw us out." said the other engineer.

"RIGHT YOU ARE, BOYO!" Cyclops yelled as a medic charged Eagle ran onto the balcony, rocket launcher in hand, and blew up the sentry and the engineer with more rockets. He ran onto the balcony and drew his attention to the turrets down below. The turrets and soldiers down below noticed him and fired back. His rockets blew up one of the turrets, however, the other turret and the other soldiers overpowered Eagle. "Dammit, they got Eagle." Serial yelled from inside as he ran around.

Kristel ran up the stairs on the left of the building and around to the balcony. The turret was firing at Red Team soldiers pouring out from the middle path, blowing up the two demomen and firing rockets at the opposition. The pyro charged the soldiers with his flamethrower. He was blown up in the process by their rockets, but still caught the group on fire. Kristel cringed as the Red team soldiers burnt up and were finished off by the sentry gun.

The Blue Soldiers turned their attention to Kristel and fired their rockets at her. She ran across the length of the balcony, took aim at the injured sentry gun and fired at it with her sentry gun, destroying it.

Cyclops lobbed grenades towards the far end where the engineers were camped. The Blue Soldiers and engineers made a run for the back. One of the grenades, however, hit an engineer and knocked him down. The rest of them were taken out when he banked two more grenades around the corner. "It's all clear, Lassie." Cyclops yelled up to Kristel as he ran for the control point. "Roger that." she yelled back. She and Serial jumped down from the balcony and joined him on the control point. "This isn't so hard." Serial remarked. The engineer, injured, took his pistol and aimed up at Serial's head. "BEHIND YOU!" Kristel exclaimed and shot at the engineer with her own pistol, dropping him for good.

"We've taken the control point!" Cyclops said to the two. They were joined by AtlasEXE, Razor, and Sidewinder twenty seconds later. "What are our casualties." Razor said to Kristel. "Urrgghh, let me think. I know we lost Eagle." she said. "Well, if we don't get moving soon, even more of us will be dead." AtlasEXE remarked. "Right, you guys know what to do. Set up teleporters, then you hack the final gates open." Razor commanded.

-----

"WHAT!? THEY HAVE TAKEN SECTOR TWO?" Giftspritze yelled into the radio. "Yes sir. They are a lot tougher than we anticipated. We need those reinforcements soon." it responsible. "Urrrgghh. WHO IST LEADING THESE MEN!?" he asked angrily. "Uhhh, from what I can tell, it's a teenaged girl, about 18-19 I believe." was the responsible. "WHAT?! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT MY MEN WERE BESTED BY RED TEAM FORCES UNDER THE COMMAND OF A TEENAGED GIRL!? YOU BETTER BE FUCKING JOKING ME!" he roared. "Uhhh, I think that someone else might be guiding her, because..." "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSE, YOU FUCKING WEAK EXCUSE FOR A SOLDIER, I WANT THAT BITCH DEAD! YOU HEAR ME!?" he slammed the radio down. "Yes...sir..." quivered the voice on the other end.

"Apparently, you defenses aren't so tough after all." came a voice from behind Giftspritze. "Humph, I don't see you doing anything about it." he responded, turning around to face Gustavo the Chameleon. He stood there, leaned against a wall, with a cigarette in his mouth. "Let me just something straight to you, doctor: I don't give two shits about your lab or your experiments. If the Red Team gets a hold of your Übercharge plans, then good. It was your fault for sticking around like some pompous fool while they exploit your little blind spot and steal it right out from under your nose." He said to the doctor. "Are you saying you are not loyal to this Team? YOU TRAITOROUS SCHWEINHUND" he pointed an accusing finger at Gustavo, who simply huffed confidently. "You get me wrong. My only concern is to help my own country and to lead my country's army to victory. I am not concerned with helping a sick man such as yourself accomplish his twisted inventions." he responded. "But, if it will help you sleep at night, I shall go and assassinate the so-called teenaged girl that has been giving you trouble." he added. "You better, or else." he threatened. "Or else what, you're killed me. I'm shaken." he said sarcastically as he left the room.

_So, I finally meet you, kitten. There's something special about you, and I intend to find out. That is, if my knife doesn't take care of you first..._


	8. Personal Vendettas

Chapter 8: Personal Vendettas

"Sixty seconds." came AtlasEXE's voice.

_This is it._ Kristel though, staring through the gates. On the other side was a bunker, with sentry guns, soldiers, demoman and heavies already set up, ready to take her men down the moment the gates opened. By the time her squad finally reached sector three, the Blue Team forces were able to set up a strong defense.

AtlasEXE and Sidewinder's teleportation grids were working at full capacity, sending in much needed men to the fight. Soldiers and Heavies beamed out of the teleporters and joined the men at the gates, ready to go. Despite the situation, most of the soldiers were excited to head into battle, yelling battle cries as they rushed to the gates, unaware of the slaughter they were about to walk into. "They wouldn't be yellin' like if they knew what they was walkin' into." AtlasEXE remarked to Sidewinder. "It almost seems like they are being sent to their deaths. Isn't there another way." he replied. "Sidewinder, if you want to make an omelet, you gotta bust up a few eggs, don'tcha? If that bastard Chameleon hadn't wrecked up my tank, we would be sitting on some nice Übercharge plans with minimal casualties. Instead, we're takin' a back door that's loaded with loonies with grenade launchers, sentry turrets that turn Red Soldiers into swiss cheese and gas mask psychos that will roast your flesh and eat it for dinner."

"Well, uhh..." "Look, it wouldn't be a war if people didn't die. Don't get me wrong, I regret Red Team deaths just as much as any other person in our army, but we ain't fighting pushovers here. We're fighting an army just as skilled and determined as us. There's no way you can fight an army with even the smallest bit of competence without losing some of your own men. Anyone who says otherwise must have gone up against an army of blind and deaf people." AtlasEXE added. "Well...dammit." Sidewinder didn't have a retort.

Razor approached Kristel. "Listen, these men are going to be murdered once those gates open." he said to her. She looked out of the gates and saw the Blue defenses. Blue demomen were already shooting sticky grenades at the foot of the gates and once they opened, they would detonate them, killing the Red Team soldiers as they rushed the bunker.

"I'll order them to not stand near the gates then." Kristel replied. "Don't!" Razor said, and put his hand on Kristel's shoulder. "Listen, if we don't keep the pressure on these Blue Team guys, they're going to gain ground back. I know you're worried about their lives, but if you don't make sacrifices now, then the soldiers we've already lost's deaths with be for nothing." he said._ He's right. _She thought. _I know it's painful to see your own soldiers die, even more so when they are under your command, but at least they are dying for something..._

"Thirty seconds!" AtlasEXE yelled out. "Alright, I can do this." Kristel said to him. "When those gates open, push on ahead and give 'em hell! We're almost there!" she yelled out to her squad. Her words caused the crowd to erupt in a loud battle cry. "LET'S DO IT!" "TO VICTORY!" "FREEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!" they yelled. _Okay... we aren't exactly fighting for freedom, but whatever works for you. _She thought.

"Come with me, Kristel." Razor said. "Cyclops, follow along." she commanded to him. "Now you're thinkin'" Razor added.

He lead the two down another pathway leading to a third gate. She could see the bunker from it, but could also see the Blue command point on the other side. "Alright, most of their energy will be concentrated on the gates over there. Now if you were to see an opening from here, you could dash right out and do some damage." Razor suggested. "I got a better idea." she replied and turned to Cyclops. "Cyclops, launch some grenades into that bunker and see if you can draw them out." she told him." "Hah! You don't have to remind me to blow things up!" he replied proudly.

"TEN SECONDS!" AtlasEXE's yelled out. "Alright, I'm going back to the main gates to provide cover fire. I'll send a soldier you way to help you out." Razor said to Kristel. "Alright. Just be careful." she replied. "You too!" Razor said and ran back to the main squad.

"FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! GO GO GO GO GO GO GOOOOOOOO!"

One minute, the Red Team soldiers at the main gate stood poised. Rockets launchers in hand, they were ready to throw everything they had at the entrenched Blue Team forces. The next minute, the gates were open, and the sounds of explosions and gunfire had filed the air. The sticky grenades that were at the foot of the entrance were detonated, blowing up those who stood too close to the gates. The rest were bombarded by rockets, mini gun rounds and grenades launched by the enemy demomen. Soldiers and heavies fresh from back came through AtlasEXE and Sidewinder's teleporters to replace their fallen comrades, but met a similar fate.

Cyclops aimed his grenades at the bunker window and fired them. One of the enemy demomen took noticed and aimed his grenades at the entrance. "LOOK OUT!" Cyclops yelled as he rolled away from the doorway. Blue grenades rolled in and detonated, only to be replaced with more of them, effectively pinning down Kristel and Cyclops. Some sticky grenades were also lobbed at the doorway to further deter the two Red Team members from moving ahead.

The Red Team soldier Razor promised finally reached Cyclops and Kristel. "We're pinned down here. Take out those demomen so we can get to under the bunker." she commanded. "Yes, ma'am!" the soldier said. He launched a rocket at the sticky grenades at the entrance. Though they were designed not to detonate due to impact from other objects, they still scattered around, making the entrance safe enough for him to stand out. He aimed his rocket launcher at the demoman, who was launching more sticky grenades and fired. The rocket hit the demoman square in the chest and turn him into nothing more than a pile of guts on the ground, rendering the scattered sticky grenades harmless. "It's clear!" the soldier yelled.

"Alright, I'm going to make a run for under that bunker, Cyclops. I want you to join me and launch grenades from under there with me. I'll give you cover while there alright." she said. "Got it!" Cyclops responded. "Now!" Kristel sprinted across the field and to under the bunker. There was a sentry at the end that spotted her, but by the time it could get a lock, she was already out of range.

Cyclops followed soon after. He fired two grenades down at the sentry while running, then slammed his back against the bunker wall. The soldier joined in as well, firing a rocket at the sentry. Unfortunately, the sentry had shot the soldier down before he could make it. However, the soldier's rocket, combined with the blast from Cyclops' grenades, blew up the sentry gun.

_Damn. _She thought. "Get some grenades into there." She yelled over to Cyclops, who was loading new grenades into his launcher. "Already on it." he yelled out as he pulled the gun shut. He spun the grenade cylinder around, and then fired into the bunker. The sentry gun and rocket fire had briefly stopped from the bunker, allowing the Red Forces inside of the main gates to move forward. "THE CONTROL POINT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BUNKER! GO GO GO!" Kristel yelled to her squad.

The soldiers and heavies rushed across the field towards the control point. Two sentry guns were nested on the path to the right. When the first soldier crossed in front of it's sensor, the sentry and it's brother immediately began firing, destroying the slower moving soldiers and heavies that crossed in front of it. "FALL BACK!" Kristel yelled when she saw the slaughter.

_Damn damn DAMN! How could I have fallen for that._ She thought, slapping herself over the face. Cyclops didn't even need the order, as he was already lobbing grenades in the direction of the sentry guns. _Fuck it, I'm grabbing that control point myself._ She thought and jumped straight into the bunker. The engineer fired his shotgun at her upon her entry. She rolled over to avoid the shot and fired back with her scattergun from a crouching position. The engineer fell back, dropping his gun. She saw the control point across the field from the bunker and sprinted towards it.

The sentry guns then turned their attention on her, firing bullets and rockets rapidly at her. The rockets exploded against the ground, causing sand to fly. The sharp bullets pierced through Kristel as she double jumped onto the platform. She rolled behind cover and clutched her wounds as she took the point.

A Blue heavy weapons guy ran out into the field. He fired a stream of bullets at Cyclops, pinning him behind the bunker. He then turned his attention to the wounded Kristel, who was lying on the control point bleeding. _This is it. _ She thought, covering her eyes as the heavy laughed and revved up his mini gun.

BANG!

A sniper bullet flew through the heavy's head and colliding with the wall. He fell to the ground with a mighty thud before he could even fire a single bullet at Kristel. Cyclops ran back out and fired sticky grenades at the hidden sentries. "FALL BACK!" he heard the Blue engineers watching the turrets yell. Once they landed, he laughed as he detonated them, blowing both of the sentry guns up at the same time.

The control pointed shifted from blue to red after Kristel laid on it. Razor and Cyclops ran over to her. "You okay, Lassie?" Cyclops asked, sitting her up. "Does it look like I'm ok...ugghh" she said. "Where's a medic?" she asked. Serial came running up the field. "Get over 'ere, we got an injured soldier, mate!" Razor yelled out.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" Serial yelled out. He aimed his medic gun at Kristel and fired healing energy into her. She got up from the puddle of blood that was now at her feet. "Thanks, Serial." she said to the Red medic. "What happened to ya. When I saw ya, you was rolling around with holes in ya leakin' blood." Razor asked. "I tried to race two sentry guns and almost lost." she replied.

"Alright, listen to me, Kristel." he looked her in the eye. "From what I've seen, you're a good commander. However, you can't take unnecessary risks like that. If you the commander dies, then your men will be without leadership, running around like decapitated chickens doin' their own thing while an organized Blue Team squad rushes in and messes them up. Not I'm not saying to sit entirely on the sidelines while your boys are out there risking their necks, but you aren't much use to them dead, you know."

"Speakin' of sittin' on the sidelines." Serial said as AtlasEXE and Sidewinder ran over. "Nice of you to join us. How was sitting back while the rest of us ate rockets and hot lead." Serial asked indignantly. "You're one to talk, sitting in a corner with your little medic device, running away if an Blue Team soldier looks at ya funny." AtlasEXE retorted. "Shut up! This isn't the time to argue. We've got the Blue Team on the run. Once we take their last control point we'll be able to launch a full scale assault on the lab. Atlas, Sidewinder, you know what to do." she said to the two engineers. AtlasEXE sighed. "Alright, fine." he said and joined Sidewinder in setting up teleporters. Three soldiers ran up the field to join the six Red Team member currently at the control point.

"Follow me." Kristel commanded. She ran up the path the sentry guns were previously hidden and peeked down. She saw what had appeared to be a row of metallic houses, with frequent windows. However, she spotted no Blue Team soldiers, at least no visible ones. "I smell an ambush. Dan, you take the point, keep your eyes open for concealed Blue Team soldiers." she commanded. The soldier named Dan complied and led the group down the metallic corridor.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, Blue Team morons!" Dan yelled out, pointed his rocket launcher into doorways and windows. "Quiet, do you want them to know we are here." One of the other soldiers yelled up to him. "As if the explosions and gunfire that could be heard from a ten mile radius didn't tip them off already." Dan retorted. "Hmmm...good point..."

"Ha ha ha, you Blue Team guys are losers!" Dan taunted. He pointed his rocket launcher at an empty stairwell. While his back was turned, a Blue sniper, entrenched in a small bunker on the opposite end of another corridor, aimed the blue dot of his sniper rifle at Dan's head. "Hah, you Blue Team idiots couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a sniper rifle if you...URRRKKKK!" the sniper bullet penetrating his skull interrupted him and instantly killed him.

----

Gustavo heard the sniper bullet ring out across the corridor. He surveyed the defenses around the control point situated under the rocket. Three sentry guns were posted, two on either side of the launch pad, another in directly in the center. Two demomen were hidden in alcoves in front of shutter doors, launching sticky grenades at the control point. Several soldiers and two heavy weapons guy were already posted around it.

_These men can hold the fort. Now to finally meet this mystery girl. Assuming, of course, she didn't get hit by that last sniper round, of course. _He thought as he walked down the bridge. He then activating his cloaking device and watched as his own body disappeared before the eyes of the Blue Team men watching the control point.

----

"Sniper!" Kristel yelled back, signaling her squad to stop. "Bloody Dan. I knew all that taunting he did would get him killed one day. I swear he shot off more bad one liners than he did rockets." Razor mused.

Kristel peeked the corner quickly and saw the Blue sniper again. He immediately turned his attention to Kristel and fired a shot at her. She slammed her back behind the wall, narrowly missing the high powered bullet as it zoomed by her ear.

"The only thing over there is that sniper. However, he's got the whole path covered. If anyone ran out there, he'd pick their head off before they reached five yards." Kristel said to the group. "Are you sure there isn't anything else over there." AtlasEXE asked. "I'm sure." she replied. "And if I tried checking again, I could get my head shot off." she added. "Ohh...yeah. I forgot." he responded.

"Unfortunately, he's covering the only path to the rocket bay. There is no way around him." Sidewinder said. "Razor, can't you take him out. You've got the sniper rifle." AtlasEXE said to Razor. "No, man. By the time I lined up a shot, he would have already gotten me." Razor replied. Then, an idea hit him. "Alright, I think I know how to deal with this boy. All of us will run from cover and charge him." Razor said, to a group of blank stares. "I know it sounds stupid, charging like that, but if we present him multiple targets, he'll be less likely to make a shot and more likely to retreat." he added. "Hmm...alright, on three, all of us will charge at the sniper. Soldiers, fire rockets at the bunker to scare him away. Don't stop running at all. He can't kill all of us." Kristel commanded.

"Three, two, one, GO GO GO GOOO!"

The squad charged the bunker. "CHAAAAARGE!" Cyclops yelled at the top of his lungs. The Blue sniper took aim, thought his hand was shaking at the sight of the Red Team soldiers charging. He fired, but missed his mark horribly. "KEEP GOING!" Kristel yelled. A Red soldier aimed at the bunker and fired a rocket into it. The Blue sniper, panicked, sprinted out of the bunker before the rocket could blow him out.

Once they reached the end of the corridor, Kristel signaled them to stop. She peeked over the corner at the end and finally saw it: the last control point, situated across a bridge without guardrails . She also saw the huge rocket supported above it with the Blue Team logo as well as the fortress behind it. The point was littered with sticky grenades as well as guarded by soldiers and heavies. However, there were no snipers.

The soldiers spotted Kristel and fired rockets at the corner she peeked out from. She rolled back to avoid the impact from the rockets. "Alright, they got sentries, soldiers, heavies, demomen, the whole lot. The control point across the bridge is very well defended. Sidewinder, built a sentry and move up the teleporters to hold this point." Kristel ordered. "Are they any snipers over there?" Razor asked. "No." she replied. "Good, I'll cover from the end with my sniper rifle." he said.

"I'll go deal with that cowering sniper." she said as she ran around, up a stairway and double jumped across to a balcony. "Alright, Redford, you fire a rocket at the middle sentry. When his engineer buddy tries to fix it, I'll pick the wanker right off." he replied, pointing to a soldier named Redford. "Yes sir!" Redford replied and rolled out. He aimed at the center-most sentry and fired his rocket. Three rockets and mini gun rounds came back at him in response, dashing towards his feet and body. He backpedaled behind the wall, firing rockets back at his enemies.

Razor then rolled out as Redford hid. He readied his sniper rifle and looked through the scope. As he predicted, the engineer was making repairs to the sentry turret across the way. The engineer was too busy concentrating on fixing the sentry to noticed the red dot from Razor's sniper rifle highlighting the turret, then slowly moving up to his face. Once the shot lined up, he fired, sending the engineer falling to the ground.

The two heavy weapons guys took aim at him in response. He recharged a shot and aimed at the heavy on the right side. They revved and guns up and unleashed full salvo all the way across at Razor. Despite the volume of bullets coming at him, they all lost accuracy over the long distance Razor was at. He fired the charged shot at the heavy, hitting him in the head and killing him instantly. As he ran back behind cover, he got hit by three stray bullets. "Dammit." he yelled before Serial healed him fully.

"There's a small alcove from the left of the bridge." Kristel yelled out to her forces. "Atlas, try to get in there and build a sentry gun and turret." she added. "Alright, mate, you go and fuck that sniper up." he yelled back.

She ran inside, scattergun pointed forward. As she ran, a machete swung around a corner and narrowly missed Kristel. The Blue sniper wielding the machete poked the corner and revealed himself, holding his MP5K in one hand and his machete in the other. He raised the gun at Kristel and fired off a burst of 9mm rounds. She crouched down to avoid the burst, and fired her scattergun of at the sniper, who ducked back behind cover to avoid the blast. She got up and charged forward, poking to the right at the corner. She shoved the barrel of the scattergun into the sniper and fired at point blank range, putting him out of commission.

A Red Soldier then came up from behind her. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "I'm here to help you with that cowardly sniper." he replied. "Well, I already took care of him, thank you very much." she replied, pointing at the dead Blue sniper. "Ohh, well, I'll watch your back, in case any spies are creeping around here." he responded. "Uhh, okay." she replied. _Spies? I wasn't aware of any spies._ She thought.

The remaining Blue heavy weapons guy was firing his min gun down the passage, keeping AtlasEXE from moving. _Cmon, you gotta run out of ammo one of these days._ he thought, clutching his shotgun. Serial stood right behind him, pumping adrenaline through his medic gun. A Red heavy weapons guy came through Sidewinder's teleporter and joined the squad. _Perfect. _He thought.

"Alright, when the firing stops, I want you to get out there and provide suppressing fire while we run up and set up camp in an alcove." AtlasEXE told the heavy, who revved up his mini gun. Once, the gunfire stopped, they made their move. The heavy ran out to the right and fired at the defensive emplacement. The soldiers there aimed their rockets at the heavy and fired in his direction. AtlasEXE and Serial then made their move. AtlasEXE sprinted from cover with Serial provided medical assistance from behind with his medic gun. The rockets zoomed past AtlasEXE as he fired his shotgun back at the Blue forces. As he banked left, a rocket collided with the ground near him, causing him splash damage in the explosion. However, the stream of life being pumped in by Serial almost instantly healed him. The Red heavy moved forward while firing, even as rockets blew up against him. Eventually, one went into his jaw and blew him up from the inside, leaving nothing but a pile of blood and charred body parts.

"Damn, they got the heavy." Serial yelled. "How unfortunate, but we've got a job to do. You cover me, I'll set up camp." AtlasEXE replied.

Kristel peeked out onto another balcony, this one overlooking the pit below the bridge. Though the fall didn't look lethal to her, it would still hurt if she had jumped down. She looked over and saw AtlasEXE setting up, while Serial was covering him. The Blue Team forces current present were too busy dealing with the Red Team attackers now moving up on the bridge to even notice Kristel on the balcony, except for one.

"KRISTEL, BEHIND YOU!" Serial yelled from across the field. The "soldier" that was behind Kristel was a spy, who was poised and ready to jab his knife straight into Kristel's back. She rolled forward and turned back around, dodging the spy's knife aimed for her back. She turned back around and pointed her scattergun at him. The spy simply knocked it out of her hands and delivered a swift kick to her chest, knocking her over the rails and down into the pit.

"Kristel! KRISTEL! SHE FELL OVER!" Serial yelled. "Damn!" AtlasEXE said. "KEEP ATTACKING! DO NO RETREAT!" he added.

She collided with the ground on her back. The soft sand had cushioned her fall to a degree, however the shock of the fall still knocked the wind out of her. The spy jumped over the rail, slid down an incline leading into the pit and jumped over her near the bottom.

She tried to get up, but was met with the spy's revolver pointing at her face. Her head fell to the ground. "Gustavo the Chameleon, I presume." she said. "You assumption is correct, my dear girl. And you would be..." he knelt down and picked up the dog tag that was on her chest, all the while still pointing the revolver at her. "Geoffrey Wright? I was told that he was dead. And that he was male." he read further. "So, the daughter of Geoffrey Wright comes looking for blood after daddy dies. Quite a vengeful young lass you are." he grinned, getting up. Kristel remained silent. "Also a clumsy one as well." he added. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Well, have you bumped into any medics lately." he asked.

She then thought back to the rude medic from yesterday. _That asshole medic was really him, Gustavo the Chameleon, in disguise. And just today, I bet that soldier who "came to help me with the sniper." was really him as well._ "Wait, so that means you were also the soldier I met just minutes ago."

she said to him. "Very good, kitten. You're a smart one, aren't you. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from the daughter of Geoffrey Wright." he smiled. "Just be quiet. You know Sidewinder is still torn up over his brother's death because of you." she said to him through clenched teeth.

"Don't get mad at me, my dear, I was just doing my job." he said. She still looked at him with an angry stare. "You don't understand, do you, girl. I'm not like Dr. Giftspritze, I don't get off to killing. I only do it because it's my job. If I had it my way, many of the people on board the Steamroller Tank would still be alive, albeit imprisoned by the Blue Team." he said to her.

"By the way, what is your name, kitten?" he asked. "Kristel." she said angrily. "Kristel Wright, my dear." he pulled back the hammer on his revolver. "Please don't take this personally. I don't bear any grudge against you at all. However, you are Red and I am Blue. Therefore, I must kill you." he aimed at her head.

Just before he fired, she found the energy to roll over onto her stomach and avoid the bullet heading towards her skull. She jumped onto her knees, took out her pistol, and fired back at the spy. He jumped away from the bullets and fired two more shots back. She ran towards the wall, jumped and kicked off of it towards Gustavo, firing back as she was in the air. He ran towards her, dodging the bullets and firing back as well, until they met face to face, his revolver to her face and her Sig Sauer to his.

"You're empty." he grinned, and then fired, only to hear the click of an ammoless gun. "So are you." she smiled. He backed up and straightened his tie.

"Not bad, Kristel." he said, taking a cigarette from his coat pocket and putting it into his mouth. "You are most certainly a natural gun fighter. You know how to attack and defend." he said, taking a lighter from his coat. "Knowing how to do both is paramount to the survival of a fighter." He lit his cigarette and put the lighter back into his coat. "But let's see how you do hand to hand." he said, and then threw his revolver off to the side. Kristel met his eyes and then tossed her Sig Sauer aside, then assume a fighting stance. He took a puff of his cigarette and straighten his tie one last time.

The two then charge at each other. Kristel threw multiple punches at Gustavo, only to have them all blocked effortlessly. He then grabbed her arm in the middle of one of her punches. "If this is your best, I do believe I have already won." he grinned and then kicked forward into her, knocking her back.

She tried to get up, but was met with a kick knocking her down. Each of her subsequent attempts to get up were met with similar punishment. "It's sad to see that you can't even fight with the weapons you were born with." he said to her. He delivered another kick to her fallen body. "You're good with a gun, but sadly, you are worthless without one." he added,

_Errrgghhh, there's no way I'll beat this guy head on. He'll just block all of my attacks. Wait. What if... _Another kick then landed into her chest. "Are you even trying." he said as he delivered the kick. The next one, however, she avoided. She got up and then whipped out her baseball bat.

He folded his arms and smiled. "Hmm, so you do have a will to fight." he said. "I would have no qualms if you wished to use a melee weapon to aid you. War does not have rules after all." he added calmly, puffing on his cigarette. _What is with this guy? _She thought, holding her bat up high and ready to strike. _I have a bat ready to go and he just stands there, smoking a cigarette without a care in the world. _"Well, go ahead, hit me. Strike me down with that bat of yours." he challenged.

She charged at him, bat in the air. She swung down at Gustavo, who sidestepped the attack. He then delivered a kick up into her hand, knocking the bat out. The bat flew upwards into the air, and then was caught by Gustavo. _Nooo._ She thought.

"What an unfortunate and ironic turn of events. Your so-called trump card will end up digging you own grave." he said, walking towards her with the bat. She backed away as he advanced, holding out a fighting stance nervously. "I reckoned with a girl your size, it should only take a couple of whacks before I am able to put you out of commission." he said to her.

She then thought back to what he said about attacking and defending. _Wait, I could outmaneuver this guy. I not be able attack him directly, but if I..._ she then stood, fighting stance ready. "Well, you fought bravely. Most of my victims don't even see me, let alone get to the hand to hand portion. Unfortunately, it's time I said goodbye." he said and the swung the bat. She jumped up, avoiding the swing, and then doubled jumped over his head. "Whaaa?" he said, retracting the bat. She flailed her armed and struck Gustavo across the back of the head.

The two then resumed fighting stances. "Not bad." he said, bat up high. "A nice trick, but you'll need more than a lucky hit to beat me." he said, and then swung at her again. She jumped aside to avoid the swing, and then double jumped into the air. He turned around, ready to swing at her when she landed. Instead, she drove her foot into his head. The recoil from the impact made him stumble back and lose the cigarette from his mouth. When she landed, she threw three quick punches at him. He then starting swinging his bat more frantically, thrown off by her sudden ability. He jabbed the bat forward, striking her in the chest and knocking her back.

He smiled and then got ready to deliver the final blow into her skull. She double jumped and then kicked the bat out of his hand while she was in the air. When she landed, she delivered a kick straight into his chest, knocking him to the ground.

He rolled over, got up, and held out his palm to the charging Kristel. "That's enough." he said. She stopped at his palm, still in fighting stance. "I am legitimately impressed with your abilities, Ms. Wright." he added, taking a cigarette from his coat pocket and putting it into his mouth. She got ready to charge him, but he flicked his butterfly knife open and pointed it at her. "Don't. For giving me an excellent fight, I shall spare your life. That is if you will spare mine." he said, taking a lighter out and lit his cigarette.

She was confused. _Is he giving up? Or is this a trick to draw my guard down._ She though. He picked up her bat. "If you are this dedicated in taking down Dr. Giftspritze, then I shall set you upon him." he offered the bat to her, "With my blessing." She took the bat. Though she was relaxed, she was still confused. "If you are so loyal to the Blue Team, why are you helping me?" she asked. "I am not helping you, I am merely letting you go so you can help both of us. You see, my only loyalties lie to my country, Azure, and to the army that fights for it. Dr. Giftspritze is a liability, and though I despise the man, if I were to strike him down, I would be charged with treason. You, on the other hand, if you were to kill the man, not only would you satisfy your revenge, but you would also probably receive a medal for it. In a way, you'd be doing both of us a favor." he said to her. "But why do you hate him? Why is he a liability." she asked. "You have so many questions, my dear Kristel, and I only have so many answers." he replied. "My reasons for despising that rat bastard are none of your concerned. However..." he added. "I can tell you that I'm pretty damn sure he doesn't care about the Blue Team, yet he fights for it and it's objective of capturing the Red Flag. It is my intention to find out his true motives."

He turned his back and then walked away. "Where are you going?" she asked. "Elsewhere. To a front that actually needs me. I will engage your Red Team forces elsewhere, and will do my best to triumph over them." he said. "I trust that you will do your best to triumph over the remaining Blue forces here as well." he added. She just looked on at him. _This man is truly bizarre. He claims to be loyal to the Blue Team, but gave me his blessing to kill Dr. Giftspritze, the man who is responsible for a good deal of the Blue Team's strength. Does he truly hold a grudge against Dr. Giftspritze, or is he hiding something._ She wondered.

"One more thing." he turned and looked at her. "I like you, Ms. Wright. Though your skills and experience in battle may be lacking, you have dedication that is only rivaled by your beauty, and in time, shall develop you into a great soldier." he said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth. It's a shame that we are on opposite sides of the war." he lamented, and then put the cigarette back in his mouth. "There are many things in the world I am not certain of, but I do know this: we will meet again." he said, and then turned his back on her, still looking back on her. "Good luck, Ms. Wright" he said and then cloaked away, disappearing from the battlefield completely.

She looked up onto the balcony where she was kicked from and saw _him:_ the blue suited man, standing up there looking down at here without a concern in the world. _How did he get up there? And who is that man? _

"KRISTEL, IS THAT YOU DOWN THERE?" he heard a familiar voice ring out. She looked up in the direction of the control point and saw Razor, looking down at her with Cyclops. She glanced back at the balcony and noticed the blue suited man was gone. _Where did he go? _She wondered. "I thought you was dead when ya fell from there, lassie!" she turned her attention to Cyclops. "Yeah! Is there any way you can get me out of this pit?" she yelled back up. "Hold on, I'll try to find a rope." Razor yelled.

He returned with a long cable and threw it down. "Alright, grab on, I'll pull ya up." he yelled out. She grabbed on and began lifting herself up to climb. Razor, Cyclops and Sidewinder helped pull Kristel up from the pit and onto the platform above.

"You missed it, we got the final control point while you were down there." Sidewinder was saying as she got up from the pit. She looked around and noticed the aftermath: the dead soldiers, the rubble from the sentry guns and the control point that once glowed blue was now a solid shade of red. "Man, you should have seen it, lassie. Those engineers crapping their panties when they saw us coming and try to run, but then POW! I sent a grenade at them and blew them into more parts than I can count with my one eye." Cyclops said, pointing at his one good eye. "Errr, what were you doing down there anyways?" Razor asked. "Umm, I think the fall knocked me out cold, so I don't remember much." she lied. "Well aren't you a lucky lass. You got to sleep during the last part of the battle." Cyclops complained. _Actually, I nearly got killed by Gustavo the Chameleon, thank you very much._

"Where's AtlasEXE?" Kristel asked, trying to change the subject. "Bloody wimp got shot by the Blue Team and was cryin' like a baby, so we sent him back to base with one of Sidewinder's teleporters." he replied. "Couldn't Serial just heal him. I mean, I nearly died from loss of blood back there, and that medic fixed me right up." she wondered. "Unfortunately, he wasn't as lucky at Atlas." Razor said. "Where is he now?" she asked. "Well, he's in a better place now." Razor replied with a sigh. "At least his spirit is. His physical body is splattered all over the ground." he added. _I really didn't need to know that. _She thought.

"Well, why are we still out here, we've got to storm this lab and get the Übercharge blueprints" she said. "Right you are, Kristel. I've prepared a strike team with just that in mind while you were having your nap in that sand pit." he said and pointed at Red Forces coming over the bridge. There were three soldiers, including Redford, two heavies and a medic coming across the bridge. The first thing she noticed was that the soldiers were armed with Colt M4A1 assault rifles instead of the standard issue rocket launchers.

"We've issued these soldiers assault rifles instead due to the close quarters fighting you and your squad will engage in inside the lab. The last thing we need is one of out own rockets to go off into a wall and blow ya all to hell, saving the Blue Team the trouble." Razor explained. "We also issue this kind of weaponry to soldiers posted inside because to be honest, rockets cause a lot of collateral damage and I don't think the Red Team wants to keep repairing computers or other gadgets that some rocket struck and blew the shit out of." he added.

"Right, is anyone else coming with us?" she asked. "Cyclops will be joining you as well. Sidewinder and I will hold the fort right here." He took out an headset and gave it to Kristel, who put it on. "I will be in radio contact with you the entire time. Now remember: the Übercharge blueprints are your TOP PRIORITY." he said, putting emphasis on 'priority'. "Do not go chasing down Dr. Giftspritze unless those plans are firmly in your grasp. Then you can see about getting your revenge." he added. "By the way, I think you dropped this." he took her scattergun and offered it back to her. "Thanks." she replied and took the gun. An explosion came from the direction of the gate guarding the front. "Alright, that's your cue to rush in, GO GO GOOO!" Razor yelled.

----

"ALERT! THE RED TEAM HAS BREACHED THE LAB! REPEAT, THE RED TEAM HAS BREACHED THE LAB!" the intercom blared. Dr. Giftspritze chucked a snow globe on his desk at the wall in anger, causing it to shatter. He then grabbed the radio on his desk and angrily called the chief of security. "Well, nice work, dummkopf! Next time, why don't you help zem blow up the goddamn base, you stupid fuck!" he spat back. "Where is that damn Gustavo the Chameleon?" he asked. "Errr, he's long gone, sir. I have no idea where he is right now. What are you orders." the radio responded. "Figures, zat cowardly fuck turns tail and flees when we need his worthless ass most. Well, first, I want you to order everyone to destroy all experiments that are currently being worked on, and then I want you to put a bullet into your tiny brain for you incompetence." he said to the radio. "Yes sir." it responded.

"ATTENTION ALL BLUE TEAM MILITARY AND SCIENCE PERSONNEL! DESTROY ALL EXPERIEMENTS! DO NOT LET ANYTHING FALL INTO THE RED TEAM'S HANDS!" the intercom yelled out. Giftspritze took a pistol from his desk, cocked it and grinned. _Kristel Wright, is it? It's about time I met this teenage girl that thinks she can mess around with me and my forces._

----

Kristel heard the intercom announce that they would be destroying all experiments. _Shit, that means_ _I don't exactly have all the time in the world. At long as I get the Übercharge blueprints, I'll be fine. _She thought. "You hear that, squad. That means we have to move in quickly and get those blueprints before they are destroyed. MOVE OUT!" she commanded, signaling them to move forward.

A squad of Blue soldiers wielding G36C assault rifles met up with Kristel's Red squad in a warehouse. They took cover behind some wooden crates and fired at them. "Take cover." she yelled, diving behind a wooden crate of her own. She poked out and fired a scattergun blast at the soldiers, then ducked back down to avoid the incoming gunfire. The intercom went on again, but this time, it was Dr. Giftspritze's voice. "Well, it seems like we have ourselves a little pest running around our base. A pest by the name of Kristel Wright." his voice rang through. _How did he learn my name? _She wondered. "I'm sorry, mein dear, but you won't find anything of use to you here. It's a shame you wasted all your time as well as valuable Red soldiers for nothing." he cackled. "Ignore that git, lassie, he's just tryin' to fuck with ya head!" Cyclops yelled over to her.

A Blue soldier fired a burst of 5.56mm ammo at the corner of the box Kristel was behind. She moved farther in as light poked through the newly created holes. "CYCLOPS! USE YOUR GRENADES!" she yelled. Cyclops laid a field of sticky bombs outside of the box formation the Blue soldiers were hiding behind. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he yelled as he aimed his grenade launcher at an arc and fired grenades behind the boxes. "GRENADE!" he heard a Blue soldier yelled as several of them sprinted from their cover, only to meet up with Cyclops' sticky grenades.

"Move in! FLANK 'EM!" Kristel yelled. The heavies fired at the boxes to keep the Blue soldiers pinned down while Kristel and Redford banked to the right. The remaining two Red soldiers moved up the left. She ran all the way to the right and fired directly at the Blue soldier around the corner before he could even react. The others fired at Kristel, only to be silenced by the Red soldier behind her. The soldiers on the other side were killed by the Red soldiers. "Search the area, make sure it's clear." she yelled out. She ducked down behind the box and pointed her scattergun forward. "Area clear!" one of the Red soldiers yelled out. "Alright, form on me!" she commanded. The heavies, medic, and Cyclops emerged from their cover and joined Kristel.

"Face it, Kristel, you've already lost. Just give up and go home!" Giftspritze yelled out over the intercom.Kristel ignored Giftspritze and moved into the labs, her squad following behind.

It had felt like she had stepped into a completely different building, because the first thing she noticed was the sleek appearance of the lab hallways. The shining white walls with blue stripes, the white metallic ceiling and the blue marble floor tiles that almost perfect reflected the faces of her and her squad felt nothing like the older, rusted appearance of the rocket bay and warehouse.

Her squad split up and moved next to each other in groups of four along either side of the hallways. The squads hugged along side the walls and moved one behind the other in a single file formation, with Kristel leading the squad on the right and Redford leading the squad on the left. Two soldiers were behind each leader, followed by the medic in Redford's squad and Cyclops in Kristel's, with the heavies taking the rear. A soldier peeked out from a left corner, but was instant gunned down by Kristel, the soldier behind her, and Redford. The groups then pressed on and entered the lab at the end of the hallway.

A Blue soldier was commanding two scientists to destroy computer terminals in the room. "Move faster, before the Red Team gets here." he yelled at them, raisin. "Too late." one of the scientists yelled as the doors burst open. "THEY'RE HERE!" his partner yelled as they drew their handguns and fired at the door along with the soldier. The Red squad spread out in the room and overtook the scientists and soldier quickly. Kristel surveyed the room. The floors were covered with sheets of paper, broken glass, and parts of the destroyed computers. All of the cabinets were open and emptied, with some of the drawers on the floor. _Dammit, nothing here._ Kristel thought. Her headset then came on. "Did you find the blueprints yet." Razor asked. "Unfortunately, no. This lab has been cleaned out. I don't think the blueprints are here anyways." she said through her radio. "How unfortunate, keep looking. With luck, they haven't been destroyed yet. Razor out!"

She inadvertently eyed a security camera in the corner of the room. Giftspritze's voice then came on over the intercom. "You see, nothing for you here. Now be a good girl and go home." Kristel shot the security camera in defiance. "Suit yourself, Ms. Wright. You wanna see daddy again? I can arrange it for you if you value your life that little." he mocked. "Don't listen to that git, Kristel. He's bluffing." Cyclops said to her. She signal her squad out of the lab.

The Red Team soldiers reformed in formation and moved down the hallway. When they reached the point where they killed the Blue Team soldier, Kristel's squad on the right turned the corner while Redford's stood along the wall and moved across the hall one by one to the left wall across from Kristel.

Two soldiers peeked out and fired down the center of the hallway. Kristel and Redford crouched down and shot back at the soldiers, who retreated behind their corners. "Hold right here." Kristel commanded, holding her palm up. The two squads stopped.

One of the Blue soldiers took a grenade from his chest and threw it down the corridor, only exposing his arm. "Shit, MOVE BACK!" she yelled. The squads moved back to avoid the blast of the grenade. Once it exploded, the two Blue soldiers charged down at the Red squads. Cyclops shot two of his own grenades at the moving soldiers. The first one rolled right past them, but the second one directly collided, blowing both soldiers up when it detonated.

The two labs up ahead looked similar to the first lab: nothing of use and no sign that the Übercharge blueprints were ever in the room. They had killed all of the forces in both labs with little effort, but yielded nothing from their efforts either. "You know, I knew your father, Ms. Wright." Giftspritze's voice came over the intercom. "I quite enjoyed making him suffer. You know, electric shocks to the nipples and genitals. I believing it sounded something like that." he said and then did a mock scream in Geoffrey's voice. Kristel cringed and gripped her scattergun harder. "Ha ha ha ha ha. Want me to put him on for you. Ohh wait, I can't: I killed him already. What a shame." he said. Kristel felt angry tears well up in her eyes. "Concentrate, lassie. Don't let him get to you." Cyclops said to her.

"You ain't found 'em yet, mate?" Razor radioed in. "No." Kristel responded. "Well, get a move on, you haven't got all the time in the world. Try getting one of them lab boys on the receiving end of your scattergun. With a little persuasion, you could probably get them to lead your boys all the way to the Übercharge blueprints. Razor out."

_Of course. Why didn't I think of that before. _Kristel thought. "Alright, next lab we storm, do not kill the scientists. We are going to use them to find the Übercharge plans." she ordered. "Roger that." Redford and Cyclops responded.

A Blue pyro came bursting in the room, shooting a jet of hot fire at the Red squad from his flamethrower. The medic frantically backpeddled from the pyro coming at him as he tried to heal his burning teammates, who had dropped their guns and were trying to put out the flames that had engulfed them. Once his flames were out, Redford took his shotgun and fired at the pyro. The shotgun pellets ruptured the gas tank on the pyro's flamethrower, causing it to explode in his face.

Kristel could feel her skin burn from the pyro's fiery blast. The burns, however, slowly went away as the medic's medic gun blast healed her wounds. "Are you alright there, Kristel? You sounded like you were in danger." Razor radioed in. "My squad had a run in with a pyro. He got us good, but luckily there are no casualties. The medic is healing them as I speak." she responded. "Well, if you are alright, then keep moving, you're running out of time. Razor out!"

"Screw this, I'm out of here." a Blue Scientist yelled as he ran out of the lab. He frantically ran down the corridor, only to come face to face with Kristel and her scattergun. The scientist drew his pistol. "F-f-freeze, or I'll shoot." he stammered. In his nervousness, he accidentally ejected the magazine from his pistol. "Ehhh..." he looked around at the Red Squad, each of them had their weapons trained on him. He quickly put his hands in the air and dropped his gun. "Please! Don't shoot me! I'm just a scientist!" he pleaded. "Well, you did pull a gun on me." Kristel shot back. She gestured her gun at the scientist, causing him to flinch. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean! It was in self defense. I don't even know how to shoot the damn thing. PLEASE DON'T KILL MEEE!" the scientist cried.

"Well, if you got so much to live, how about taking us directly to where you keep the Übercharge blueprints." Kristel demanded. "What? Are you kidding? Dr. Giftspritze would murder me if I gave up those plans to the Red Team." he argued. "Well, if you cooperate, then Dr. Giftspritze won't be a problem. But if you insist on being defiant..." she raised her gun up at him. "Alright, alright, I'll take you there. Follow me!" he said. "Good. Now MOVE." Kristel said as she jabbed her gun into him.

"Are you still there, Ms. Wright?" Dr. Giftspritze asked over the intercom. "You must either be either really stupid or really persistent if you are still running around this lab thinking that you've uncover some lost treasure that will save your sorry Team. But if you insist on sticking around, I can give you a demonstration of how the Übercharge works."

"Dammit. Razor, we've got a Über soldier heading our way. Please advise." Kristel radioed in. "You can't do a bloody thing to an Übercharged enemy, so avoid him if you can. Luckily for us, the Übercharge doesn't have a very high battery life, so it won't last forever. Razor out." Razor responded.

The scientist walked nervously in front of Kristel's gun. Every time he hesitated, she would jab him in the back with her weapon, which would immediately speed him up, followed by some of his whimpering. _Wow, this guy is spineless. _ She thought as she trailed him, keeping him at gunpoint.

"Okay, it's in here." the scientist stammered as the group stopped outside of a lab. "It's inside of a safe, so you'll need me to open it." he added once the group was in the room. The lab had contained a broken medic gun, a dead Blue medic next to it, as well as a dead test subject at the end of a firing range set up in the room. In the corner of the room behind several tables was the safe, which was still unharmed. "Well, how about you open it." Kristel said, gesturing her gun at him. "Okay, okay, don't be pushy." the scientist replied as he walked over to the safe and began opening it.

A Blue medic and heavy combo stormed into the room behind the Red Squad and Blue scientist.

"Here they come!" Kristel yelled out. The medic punched the Übercharge on his medic gun, causing a surging blue ray of energy to be zapped into the heavy. Both the heavy and the medic were masked in a blue aura which surrounded their entire bodies. "NOW IS COWARD KILLING TIME!" the Blue heavy roared as he revved up his mini gun.

"TAKE COVER!" Kristel yelled out. The Red Squad each took cover behind some tables to avoid the stream of bullets that came out of the heavy's gun. The Blue scientist was caught in the gunfire and instantly killed.

"DIE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Redford yelled as he peeked out from cover and unloaded his M4A1 into the Über heavy. All of the rounds disintegrated off of his body as they impact. His mouth hung open. _Goddamn. I just unloaded an entire magazine into him and it didn't even cause a scratch!_

"Wha ha ha ha haaaaa!" The heavy laughed as he send a stream of bullets at the stunned Redford. The high caliber bullets coming from the heavy's weapon instantly ripped through Redford's armor and pierced his skin, killing him.

"Man down! MAN DOWN!" Kristel yelled! The heavy and medic combo advanced on them. "Razor, this is Kristel. The heavy is coming towards us and got us pinned." she radioed. "Can't you wait him out?" Razor asked. "No, he's getting closer and his Übercharge shows no sign of weakening. PLEASE HELP!" Kristel pleaded. "Hmm, trying aiming grenades at the medic." Razor responded. "But the medic's invincible as well." she argued. "Not from feeling impact. If you can knock him back, you might be able to disrupt the ray long enough so the rest of your boys can blow that fat wanker away." he responded.

_Shit, he's getting closer._ she thought. "CYCLOPS, LOB GRENADES AT THE MEDIC!" she ordered. "GOT IT, LASSIE!" he yelled and then shot grenades. "AH HA HA HA HAAA!" the heavy laughed as the grenades rolled towards him. He knew the grenades couldn't do a thing to him. However, the grenades weren't aimed at him. They rolled right past and hit their intended target: the medic. The medic fell back from the impact and lost his connection with the heavy.

"Alright, open fire!" she yelled and shot at the heavy along with her other squad members. Without his invincibility, the heavy was easy prey for the 7 remaining Red Squad members, who took him down with little trouble. Once the Blue medic got up from his daze, the Red Squad pointed their weapons at him.

"Open the safe!" Kristel ordered flatly. "Okay. You win. I'll do what you want, Miss!" the medic responded as he left off where the scientist starting on opening the safe. Once he finished opening it, Kristel whacked him across the back of the head with her scattergun, knocking him out.

The safe contained a briefcase with a label across it that read "Übercharge Blueprints: TOP SECRET!" "This looks like it." Kristel said, grabbing the briefcase. "Well, Ms. Wright, you seem to have found mein top secret Übercharge plans and dealt with mein demonstration of it. You clearly aren't an ordinary girl, are you?" Dr. Giftspritze came on over the intercom. _Good, he's still mouthing off over the intercom..._ she thought. "How about you come to my office and we can settle things once and for all. I'll be waiting..."

Kristel handed the briefcase to Cyclops. "You take this briefcase and lead the squad out to Razor. I'm going to go deal with Giftspritze myself." Kristel said to him. "You got it, lassie. It's in good hands!" Cyclops saluted. "Razor, this is Kristel. I've secured the Übercharge plans!" she radioed. "Ha ha ha, bloody beaut! Now get the plans out of there, and we'll be in business." Razor responded cheerfully. "I'm having Cyclops and the squad send them out to you. I'm going to stay behind and take care of Giftspritze." Kristel said. Razor went from cheerful to serious. "Kristel..." he went on, but was cut off. "Listen, you told me that once I got those Übercharge blueprints, if I had a shot at Giftspritze, I could take. Well, I'm taking that shot. I'm not letting that bastard get away after what he did to my father." she responded sternly. "Errrggghhh...alright, you can go after him, but be careful. I think he might be leading you into a trap. Giftspritze would usually bolt like the chicken shit he is once things got heated up. Razor out!"

Kristel split off from Cyclops and the rest of her squad to confront the doctor, clutching her scattergun in front of her. The only thought that ran through her mind was avenging her father's death by unloading her weapon into him. As she came closer and closer to the doctor, he resolved grew, and the grip she had around her scattergun grew tighter, as it the weapon was fused to her hands. When she had finally reached the doctor's door, she took out her father's dog tags, which she wore around her neck. "This is for you, my father..." she said to herself, and then kissed them. Then, she burst open the door and rushed in.

There was barely any light in the room, except for a solitary one shining onto Dr. Giftspritze's leather chair behind his desk, which was faced away from Kristel. "Heh heh heh...I've been waiting for you, Ms. Wright." Dr. Giftspritze's voice rang out. "So have I!" she yelled, and then ran over to turn the chair around. She pointed her gun, ready to blast him once the chair was turned around. However, the chair was empty.

"Huh?" Kristel was surprised to see the empty chair. "Heh heh heh...did you think I didn't expect that?" he said as a shutter sealed the office door behind her, trapping her in the room. "WHERE ARE YOU!? COME OUT, YOU FUCKING COWARD!" Kristel yelled out into the darkness. "Easy, my dear. No need to get all worked up, you'll only die stressed." he said as the lights came on, revealing Dr. Giftspritze inside of a teleportation pod surrounded by glass. "Don't bother shooting the glass. It's bulletproof." he said to her.

Kristel couldn't say a word. She was angered that, in her blind desire for revenge, had failed to see that he was leading her into an obvious trap. "What's the matter, Ms. Wright? Nothing to say?" he grinned. She shot at the bulletproof glass in her anger, which made the doctor's grin wider. "I already told you, it's bulletproof." he reminded her. "Now, I'd love to stay and chat with you about the Red Team's secret plans over a cup of tea, but unfortunately, I am a busy man. I don't have time to torture you, so I'm going to kill you instead." he said, and then activated a timer connected to a bomb elsewhere in the building on his desk, which read '2:00'. "Look on bright side: you'll get to see daddy again. Well, I must be going. _Auf Wiedersehen, toter hund! MWA HA HA HA HA HAAA_!" His mad laugh echoed as he teleported away. The timer on his desk started to tick down.

"RAZOR, THIS IS KRISTEL! DR. GIFTSPRITZE LOCKED ME INTO A ROOM WITH A BOMB!" she yelled into the radio. "Can you defuse it?" Razor asked. "What do I look like, a demoman? Even if the bomb was in here, I wouldn't know how to defuse it." she answered. "Dammit. Let me think." the radio then went off. _Shit. I'm screwed..._ She thought.

AtlasEXE then came on. "Kristel, this is AtlasEXE! I'm going to try and hack the teleporter inside his office to lead outside." he radioed. "Hurry up, there's only one minute and thirty seconds left." she replied. "I'm working on it!" he responded.

Her heart rate increased as the timer ticked down, as did the amount of sweat dripping down her face. With each ominous set of beeps, the timer ticked down closer and closer to her death. _Cmon, Atlas, only a minute left..._ she thought.

She tried poking around the room for the alternate way out. She moved furniture, poked walls, pushed against the ceiling, even tried pushing other objects, looking for a secret passage with no luck. She looked back at the timer. "Take your time, Atlas, it's not like I'm about to get BLOWN UP HERE!" she yelled. "I'm working on it as fast as I can!" he responded frantically. "Hurry up, only twenty seconds left!"

She could hear Razor on the other end. "Cmon, Atlas, hurry up, she doesn't have much." "I KNOW, I KNOW! I'VE ALMOST GOT IT!"

Once the timer reached ten, the beeping got faster. _10...9...8...7...6...5._ The beeping sped up to the max at 5. _4...3...2..._ Just then, the teleporter activated. "NOW KRISTEL! GO THROUGH!" AtlasEXE yelled over the radio. Kristel didn't waste any time. She jumped towards the teleporter as the lab exploded behind her, screaming as she jumped.

_Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!_

----

Razor, AtlasEXE, Sidewinder and the Red Squad could see the lab explode from outside, as well as hear the deafening sound it made. The explosion struck the rocket, which caused an even bigger explosion from inside of it.

"Did it work?" Razor asked. "I don't know, mate. She just started screamin' and then there was static..." he responded. Razor looked over at the smoke that came from the aftermath of the explosion.

Suddenly, the teleporter exit activated from next to AtlasEXE. From it emerged Kristel Wright, who was relatively unscathed. "It worked!" AtlasEXE yelled out, followed by cheering from all of the others present. "You did it, Kristel! You've not only managed to get the Übercharge blueprints from Dr. Giftspritze, but you've dealt a severe blow to Blue Team operations in the Dustbowl Sector. You've done me proud, my girl!" he said to her. "Yeah, but I let Dr. Giftspritze get away." she replied, worried. "Don't worry about him. He's a slippery one. Just bask in your own victory for now. You've earned it, mate." he reassured." "LET'S ALL CELEBRATE BY GETTING DRUNK!" Cyclops yelled out, holding his bottle up in the air. "Not yet, mate. We still gotta analyze these blueprints and clear out the remaining Blue Team wankers in the Dustbowl Sector." he replied. "I say within' a week, we'll be able to deploy Übercharges of our own!" he added.

----

Later that night, Kristel lied on her cot, worn out from the assault that went on earlier that day. She had initially dwelled on her disappointed due to falling into Dr. Giftspritze's trap and her inability to do anything about it. However, she had realized that as a new recruit, she was able to successfully lead her Team in an assault on a heavily guarded Blue Team lab, was able to capture vital intelligence and extract it and felt a surge of pride flow through her. _I'll get another chance to stop that bastard doctor._

Her thoughts then shifted to her encounter with Gustavo the Chameleon. _Why did he let me live? What are his reasons for despising the doctor._ She had then remembered what he said about engaging the Red Team on another front.

_I wonder where he is right now..._


End file.
